Today we welcome back Kevin Gascoyne of Montreal’s famed Camellia Sinensis Tea House to explore tea pairings, and specifically pairing tea with scotch. We begin our chat by looking at some current developments in tea innovation and sophistication, and then begin to look directly at pairing and explore how two different flavor profiles can play against each other.
Kevin gives us the how and why of “sandwich” pairing – tasting a scotch sandwiched between two tastings of tea – and we discuss the importance of focusing on sensory experience in pairing, as well as the fusions, contrasts, clashes and harmonies that can result. We get to explore first hand the amazing complexity of taste and aroma that emerges as Kevin takes us through a sandwich pairing of a single malt scotch with a rock tea.
Kevin encourages everyone to experiment with pairing on your own. If you can (legally) drink alcohol and want to try the pairing we did with Kevin, the tea is Bai Rui Xiang, a Wuyi mountain rock tea, and the scotch is Aberlour highland single malt, aged in sherry casks.
Bai Rui Xiang is available at the Camellia Sinensis online store and website, which also has more info about Camellia Sinensis, its locations, hours and products.
If you want to try pairing tea with other foods or beverages, let us know what you’re doing and what the results are in the comments section.
Talking Tea is produced and hosted by Ken Cohen. You can follow Ken on Twitter @kensvoiceken.
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The views and opinions expressed by guests on Talking Tea are those of the guests and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of Talking Tea or its staff.
This podcast features music from “Japanese Flowers” (https://soundcloud.com/mpgiii/japanese-flowers) by mpgiiiBEATS (https://soundcloud.com/mpgiii) available under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/). Adapted from original.
Episode photo courtesy of Camellia Sinensis.
Header image “Raw Puerh mid 1980 Menghai” by Cosmin Dordea, used under a Creative Commons CC By-SA 2.0 license. Adapted from original.
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