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er ingredients.” In these descriptions, the blend of tea
and food is a daily interest, nothing deliberate.
Tea pairing emphasizes on feeling rather than
form. It is a combination of culture and cuisine since
ancient times, making tea more than a drink, but also
the pursuit of aesthetics and philosophy. It focuses on
the spiritual core, instead of formal imitation. The
Today, the young have more ways to play with tea. modern tea pairing is a close collaboration of space
“Drift” is a tea space founded by a group from the Tai- design, tea instructors and chefs to improve the cus-
wan province. As a “test field of tea”, it borrows the tomers’ dining experience – a pathway to fine dining
idea of coffee specialties to make special tea drinks restaurants. This makes the concept of tea pairing a
with an uncommon tool – a visualized tea flavor wheel. popular trend, and professional tea sommeliers have
Fusion of tea and alcohol is another trendy direction shown up to design tea-meal combinations. Different
of exploration. “Natural Records” is a new-style tea types of tea and brewing methods can bring a variety
store, serving as a tea house during the daytime and of flavors and aromas, adding more senses of hierarchy
turning into a bar after dusk. To introduce tea and wine to the dining experience. There are also some principles
is no easy task for the store owner, who has to find the similar to wine pairing, such as light teas going with
balance between light tea flavor and strong alcohol light meals, while rich teas with rich meals.
taste. “TazaTe Earth Tea Farm” is a restaurant that In the daily perception, when Cantonese morning
presents tea with the concept of fermentation. Blending tea goes with oolong, the savory and light dishes do not
the traditional tea production process with modern cover the tea’s high floral and fruity aroma. If the tea
catering concepts, it creates a slew of unique tea-based is changed to ripe Pu’er, the rich and silky flavor can
drinks and dishes, as an attempt to break the boundar- smoothen the taste of steamed dim-sum. Black tea is
ies of traditional tea culture to let more people feel the more suitable for desserts, presenting a balanced in-
charm of tea in a young, fashionable way. tertwining of two sweet flavors. Raw Pu’er and Dancong
Beyond beverages, pairing tea with meals is also tea are perhaps the best options to suppress oily and
a huge topic. heavy dishes, refreshing the mouth and removing the
Over 2,000 years ago, tea was recorded as “Ming grease for better digestion. That’s why many meat soup
Vegetable” in the pre-Qin classic literature Spring and or pot dishes use tea as seasoning.
Autumn Annals of Master Yan, indicating that tea was The resulting tea and meal spaces abound, and the
a type of food like all kinds of wild vegetables back best of them have become big names. The Qu Lang Yuan
then. In the Western Jin Dynasty (AD 266–316), the in Beijing is a restaurant converted from a Ming and
intellectual Fu Xian wrote “I heard of a lady from Si- Qing-era courtyard house. It uses global culinary lan-
chuan selling tea congee” in his work. In the Tang guage and local ingredients to present dishes with ori-
Dynasty (AD 618–907), tea began to be served as a ental beauty and Chinese emotion. It has hosted numer-
beverage to “nourish rice and vegetables and ease the ous cultural exhibitions and seminars, winning several
oily smell of meat”, and rice with green tea was creat- awards for its architectural design and catering. The
ed. In the Song Dynasty (AD 960-1279), tea banquets Osmanthus Mountain House in Hangzhou is more like a
became prevalent and its aesthetics were carried to the tea space than a restaurant. Sitting in the beautiful West
Ming and Qing Dynasties (AD 1368–1911), when tea Lake area, the restaurant’s flower arrangements and
was used as a seasoning in dishes. Representative cui- incense under light and shadow are unique, and the tea
sines were “Taihe tea dipped chicken” in the Ming drinking is an even more extraordinary experience.
Dynasty and the “Longjing tea shrimp” in the Qing Everything is exquisite here, from the Longjing tea to
Dynasty. Qing poet, Yuan Mei, shared his snack recipe Jiuqu Red Plum to tea whisking. The Azhou Kitchen is
in the Food List of Sui Garden: “boil 100 eggs with 50 a new private vegetarian restaurant in Kunming, Yunnan
grams of salt and coarse tea leaves for about one hour; Province. It goes beyond tea and meals, and uses ancient
for 50 eggs, reduce salt to 25 grams and halve the oth- tea and salt routes as their theme.

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