Those who know me know it, I have had the opportunity to work in a delicatessen during my career. The highlight of this experience was the meeting with the tea specialist of the house. Thanks to him, I was able to discover that the world of tea and the world of wine was not finally that far away !
A comparable tasting
Obviously, there are obvious similarities between tea and wine that it is worth remembering. Its similarities are so strong that Vin-Satori – a young website very well done and French, so Cocorico ! offers only those two drinks. My discovery of tea was initially made by tasting it.
A praise of colour
Of course, we can't hide some similarity between the colors of each drink. Tea or wine, each comes from a unique plant with a variety of grape varieties – called cultivars for tea - bringing distinctions in the final style. Coming from the same shrub, tea breaks down into 6 different colours from different oxidation or fermentation : green, white, blue, black, Pu Erh (gloomy) or yellow.
Just like wine, we discover tea by the color it offers to us. Contemplating a darker infusion for two teas of the same color, we can easily determine that the drink will be richer.
Take the time to awaken our senses
We can then smell the drink to discover the slight smells that emanate from it. We can quite use the aroma wheel of the wine to express our feelings !
The palace of wonder
Of course, we end with the essential stage of taste where we can rediscover our magnificent aromas. We can also appreciate the more or less strong presence of tannins in each of the drinks. Finally, umami is the famous fifth flavour that characterizes both tea and wine – we totally stole this notion to Japanese –.
All of these elements may vary depending on the origins, plots (called "garden" for tea) or the vintage for Pu Erh teas. Everyone will have their own preferences so that there is always a tea or wine that will suit you.
Social and ceremonial drinks
Each uses a ceremonial rooted in a European or Asian culture. Their stories are ancient since wine dates back more than 8 000 years and tea nearly 2 200 years - even 4 000 years if we listen to the legends –. Wine has become a symbol of European culture thanks to the civilizations and cults that developed it. Asia is the cradle of tea, closely linked to Buddhists and a symbol of serenity.
Each of these drinks is social and is willing to be shared with our guests and friends. It will then be necessary to make a "ceremony" to taste them. You will have to choose a temperature and an infusion time, use a nice teapot and tea bowls or even a whip for matcha tea. For the wine, you will potentially have to pull out a carafe, use a corkscrew and your wine glasses - Coincidence ? I do not believe ! –.
A tasting paired with dishes
Pu Erh tea, to take just one example, is a tea that is characterized by aromas of under- wood, animal or caramel notes. It doesn't remind you of anything ? These are the aromas we find in the old vintages for wine... It doesn't take much for you to imagine beautiful food and tea pairings ! This hot drink can easily be combined with a pan-fried country or mushroom risotto.
It is important to have a finish
And what do you think... Would you have imagined that there could be so much in common between tea and wine ? Don't hesitate to share your opinion in comment if you find other commonalities that deserve their seats in this post !
Jean-Nicolas Mouretin
Read also :
- Cold or flu : think about making a mulled wine
- Which wine to drink according to your morning coffee ?
Please let me know your impressions of your food and wine pairing experience in the comments. You can also follow your wine blog with Instagram.
Indeed, there are many similarities between tea and wine… here is a good excuse to drink more wine ! (I'm joking of course)
By reading your article, I felt like I was reading two works of art .
Indeed, and I even think that we can still find other similarities 🙂
It is interesting to be able to benefit from this knowledge in wine tasting (or in tea) to improve tasting of the other drink.
Taking advantage of a Lapsang Souchong to familiarize yourself with the smoky aromas is ideal, for example… and a good way to drink more tea !
Great article, I did not know that the origins were so far away…
Speaking of the social side, it also makes me think strongly of “maté” traditional South American drink where in Argentina, for example, it is the benchmark drink that is drunk and shared with everyone at any time of the day, it's a whole culture.
Thank you Séverinne.
To clarify a little, chemical analyzes attest to the use of Neolithic pottery in the Caucasus for the preservation of wine.
For tea, the scientific analysis is certainly more complicated because the conservation of tea leaves does not imply fermentation “easily” detectable.
I did not think about it, but mate is a very good example of a sharing drink… as matcha is the ceremonial tea par excellence !