Pairing
What to Eat With Your Tea
Chocolate for a tea you drink with milk; nothing at all for one you drink straight. All 62 teas are sorted into five groups by how the encyclopedia says each is drunk, with what each group suits.
Before we start
Pairing comes down to taste in the end, and none of this was decided by tasting each tea against each sweet. The only input is how the encyclopedia says each tea is drunk — straight, with milk, iced, or scented — and the 62 teas are sorted into five groups from that. Body and astringency are not recorded as values anywhere, so nothing here infers them. Only the five groups are a judgement; the sorting is arithmetic. Ignore any of it that does not match your own palate.
Teas made for milk
These carry enough to stand beside milk, so they tend to hold their own against fat and sugar. Next to a delicate sweet, it is usually the sweet that gets lost.
What lands here: Teas the encyclopedia lists for milk, and not for drinking straight.
The 14 teas in this group
Good either way
Change how you brew it and you change what it suits. Straight, go to a light bake or a Japanese sweet; with milk, go to chocolate or something richer.
What lands here: Teas the encyclopedia lists for both straight and milk.
The 6 teas in this group
Made to be drunk cold
They are meant to be cold, so cold and acidic things tend to sit well beside them. Citrus, berries, something light and jellied.
What lands here: Teas listed for iced tea but not for milk. Flavoured teas go to their own group first.
The 6 teas in this group
Teas for drinking straight
You drink these for the aroma, and sweetness can make it harder to find. Try one on its own first; if you want something, keep it to a light bake or a small, dry sweet.
What lands here: Teas listed for straight drinking only — not for milk, not for ice.
The 12 teas in this group
Scented
The aroma is already there, and more of the same direction tends to clash. A plain biscuit or a pound cake — something that does not compete.
Smoked teas such as Lapsang Souchong are the exception: salt and cheese are usually said to suit them better than sugar.
What lands here: Flavoured teas.
The 24 teas in this group
62 teas, sorted into 5 groups.
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