Tea and Cheese-A Wonderful Pairing

Recently, I attended an Artisan's Market at Williams-Sonoma in Atlanta. I met up with some wonderful food artisans-some were friends of mine and some I met for the first time. While I was there, I bought some of my favorite products and have been trying them out in my kitchen!  I am thrilled to be featuring these small business owners and their products on my blog.

I LOVE cheese and I haven't found too many people that don't.  The first company I would like to feature is Sweet Grass Dairy.  They are a 140-acre family owned and operated farm in southern Georgia.  Their award-winning cheeses are made from the milk of their very own goats and Jersey Cows and delivered to you with our exceptional quality.

Some may be surprised that tea and cheese pair well together, but they do. You may be wondering why, so I will briefly explain.  The term "mouthfeel" is used by tea experts to explain the sensation that is going on when tasting tea.  Simply, mouthfeel is the way something coats or doesn't coat your mouth.  What makes tea and cheese such a wonderful pairing is the contrast between the astringency in tea (drying sensation) with the fat (coating) in cheese.  Tea's astringency refreshes the palate by giving it a stopping point and counterbalances the cheese. 

After trying several samples, I decided upon their Green Hill Soft-Ripened Cow Cheese.  It was even featured on the Martha Stewart Show.  I thought it would pair wonderfully with my latest shipment of tea from Darjeeling and IT DID!  The buttery rich flavor of the cheese and the muscatel tea with undertones of citrus flowers and peach=Perfect Pairing indeed. 

If you haven't paired tea and cheese together, this would be a perfect start.  Here's a recipe for a pastry encrusted cheese that is from Sweet Grass Dairy. While in the oven be sure to make a big pot of Darjeeling tea to go with it!

Ingredients:
1 piece Sweet Grass Dairy Green Hill, COLD
10 Sheets Phyllo Dough
Butter, melted

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400°.
2. If you are lucky enough to live where you have access to fresh phyllo dough, then congratulations! For the rest of us, bring phyllo to room temperature, unroll, and cover with a barely damp towel to prevent drying out.
3. Take first sheet, and brush lightly with butter. Repeat 5-10 times being careful not to let raw phyllo dry out in between layers.
4. Place Green Hill in center of phyllo, and cut dough into a rough square that is larger than Green Hill by 3” on all sides.
5. Begin to pull dough to center of Green Hill and continue in a circular fashion keeping dough as tight as possible to the cheese. When all dough has been wrapped around cheese, turn over onto sheet pan or cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or foil.
6. Brush exterior with butter and place into oven for 8-10 minutes, or until the phyllo is just browned.
7. Remove from oven, let rest for 3-4 minutes.
8. Serve with fresh salad greens and/ or honey.

In my next blog, we will take a look at another great artisan food product! I can't wait to tell you about all my great finds and how they go wonderfully with tea!

Happy Sipping and Snacking on Cheese, Lisa

Darjeeling Tea & First Flush

Welcome to the Wonderful World of Darjeeling Tea

I have gotten some questions about Darjeeling tea recently since  I posted on Facebook and Twitter that I was enjoying my First Flush Darjeeling that I received directly from the Glenburn Tea Estate.  Some of my followers wanted to know what kind of tea it was and why I love it.   

So, what is Darjeeling tea and what the heck is a First Flush?

The tea is named for the region it comes from.  The Darjeeling District is located in the northeast corner of India.  It is a beautiful area at  the foot of the Himalaya Mountains.  The tea grown there is at an elevation from 1,500 to 6,000 feet high.  It is known to many people as "the Champagne of teas."  I would have to agree with that!

Tea is similar to wine is so many ways.  One way that it is similar is what is called the "terroir."  The term was used to describe the taste of wine that encompasses the region, belonging to the specific appellation, sharing of soil, weather conditions, grapes, and wine-making savoir-faire which gives a specific personality to the wine.  Basically  this means that the taste of wine is influenced greatly by the "taste of place."  This is very true of tea as well.  The "terroir of tea" refers to not just a cultivar or specific variety although that contributes to the taste, but to many other things as well.  The climate, soil, rainfall, weather, and the traditions of the country where the tea is produced all come into play. 

So what is the "terroir" of Darjeeling teas.  The high altitude is part of it, but that is not all of it.  The area is known to have steep slopes that provide good drainage for the monsoon rains.  The rainfall, humidity, and the mist from the cloud cover have an effect on the taste.  The plant hybrid is a smaller leaf Chinese type known as Camellia sinensis sinensis which also contributes to the tea's unique taste.  The processing of the tea also comes into play to give the tea such a distinct flavor. 

It is important to know name Darjeeling tea is protected. Only tea that is cultivated, grown and produced in 87 designated tea gardens in the defined region of the District of Darjeeling can be called Darjeeling Tea. Darjeeling Tea has now been registered as a GI (Geographical Indication) in India. This officially places Darjeeling Tea in the esteemed company of a Cognac or Champagne - other famous GIs. The unique geographical conditions of Darjeeling help make its teas a rarity in the same way Cognac and Champagne are rare because they can only come from specific regions of France.

In Darjeeling, tea has "seasons."  The first pluck of the season starts in March after tea plants have been dormant through the winter.  This is what is known as a "first flush." It's flavor is described as light and bright, smooth on the palate with undertones of citrus flowers and peach and oh so delicious!   

So hopefully I have tantalized you enough to try some Darjeeling tea!  I love getting my tea direct from the plantation.  If you are a business owner, you can order directly from Glenburn Tea Estate too. I had the privilege of meeting the lovely plantation owners, Anshuman and Husna-Tara Prakash at a trade event last year.  I hope to visit their plantation in the very near future!

Did I mention that you can stay directly on the plantation? Well, that is for another post!

Happy Sipping Darjeeling Tea (of course), Lisa

(All photos in this blog post are courtesy of Glenburn Tea Estate and have copyright protection)