How to pair tea and chocolate

January 30, 2019

Fine, orthodox loose leaf tea offers a wide spectrum of natural aromas and flavours, which can make a wonderful companion to various dishes during your meal, not to mention decadent chocolates and patisserie. In this article, we share some tips how to pair tea and chocolate.

As a general rule, black tea makes an easy pairing with most of chocolates, in comparison to more delicate and light-bodied green, white and oolong teas. This is due to the fact that there is often more tannin in black tea, which contributes to the medium-to-full body of black tea  and a good amount of astringency in black tea interacts really well with the rich texture and sweetness of chocolates. However, more light-bodied green and oolong teas can also make a great pair with chocolates. For instance, you will be amazed how delicious a high quality, fruity oolong tea or jasmine scented green tea could taste with white chocolates. While the zesty, fruity note of oolong tea mingles beautifully with the sweetness of white chocolates, delicate bitterness and astringency in the oolong tea sap refreshes your palate, giving a good contrast to the sweetness of white chocolate.

To help you create a delicious and romantic Valentine’s day, we are sharing below some of our favourite tea & chocolate pairing combinations that could create a magical tea & chocolate pairing.

• Truffle lovers? Try Black Forest black tea with dark chocolate truffle, it will offer you a real classic, harmonious tea & chocolate pairing experience.

Black Forest is a highly unique, black tea from Lao Mountain, Shandong province in northwestern China. Due to its naturally intense dark chocolate aroma, it’s definitely one of our customers’ favourite black tea. Try Black Forest with dark chocolate truffle, this luscious black tea will make a wonderfully harmonious pair with truffle.

• White chocolate lovers? Then you really need to try it with Phoenix Honey Orchid oolong.

Phoenix Honey Orchid is an exceptional dancong oolong tea from Wu Dong Mountain, Guangdong province in China. Offering a naturally sweet, fruity and floral tea liquor with sharp but delicate bitterness, it’s difficult to forget its distinctively fruity flavour and aroma, once you’ve tasted it. Thanks to its characteristic tropical fruit notes and sharp bitterness, this outstanding oolong tea will magically enhance the flavour of any white chocolates. Phoenix Honey Orchid’s distinctive passion fruit, peach and orange flavours are in the perfect euphony with the sweetness of white chocolates while its bitterness refreshes your palate. We’re confident that this pairing will awaken our taste buds with the blissful memories of beautiful summer days. An absolute must-try pairing for any chocolate lovers.

• Dark chocolate lovers? Try Sun Moon Lake Red Jade black tea, it will create a refreshing & elegant pairing.

Made from the precious Red Jade tea cultivar (aka. TRES NO.18) grown on the picturesque hills of Sun Moon Lake in central Taiwan, this highly original black tea offers an invigorating liquor with refreshing notes of eucalyptus and lingering honey, which makes a classic and elegant pairing with dark chocolate pairing. It goes without saying that Sun Moon Lake Red Jade black tea will also make a great pair with any mint flavoured dark chocolates.

• Milk Chocolate lovers? Our Repertoire Earl Grey can never go wrong with it.

This quintessentially English tea makes a wonderful pair with milk chocolates. Made from entirely hand-picked tea leaves grown in the Shire highlands in Malawi and scented with natural essential Bergamot oil, the woody note of Repertoire Earl Grey creates a harmony with the rich mouthfeel of milk chocolate while its zesty, citrusy flavour refreshes your palate from the sweetness of milk chocolates.

Once you've made your selection for tea and chocolate pairing and are all set for the tasting experience, take a sip of your tea first to warm up your palate before tasting chocolates. This will allow chocolate to melt faster and evenly with the lingering aftertaste of tea.

To find more examples of tea & specific chocolate pairing, read our guest article "Tea and Chocolate Pairing - Tantalise Your Taste Buds" that we wrote in Love Cocoa's Blog. 

We also propose you to read the article a guide to gifting tea for more ideas about tea gifts. 

Find us at a tea tasting >>.

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