How to cook with tea? 7 simple and original ideas
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Journal • Tea Reimagined
How to cook with tea? 7 simple and original ideas
Tea is not just for filling a cup. Black tea, green tea, Oolong or smoked tea can also flavor a sauce, a dessert, a marinade, a broth or even a full dish. Here is how to bring tea into the kitchen without complicating your recipes.
Quick answer
To cook with tea, you can use it as an infusion in a sauce, cream, broth or marinade, but also incorporate some finely ground leaves into a preparation. The secret is to choose a tea whose aromatic profile matches the other ingredients and to master its dosage.
Why use tea in cooking?
A tea sometimes has floral, vegetal, fruity, roasted, spicy, woody or smoky notes. In other words, it can be used as a real aromatic ingredient.
An infusion can replace part of the water or milk in a preparation, enrich a sauce or add a flavor to a marinade that would be difficult to obtain with a classic spice.
1. Transform an infusion into a sauce or reduction
This is probably one of the simplest ways to start. Prepare a slightly concentrated infusion, then use it as a sauce base.
A smoked black tea can, for example, be paired with honey, citrus, ginger or soy sauce. A milder tea can go into a creamy or fruity sauce.
2. Prepare a tea marinade
A cooled infusion can serve as a base for a marinade. Then combine it with a fat, an acidic touch, some spices and possibly a sweet element.
Black teas work well with meats and fish, while a green tea can bring more freshness to a light marinade.
3. Flavor a broth, rice or grains
Replacing all or part of the cooking water with an infusion is a very simple technique to introduce tea into a dish.
A slightly roasted or woody tea can accompany rice, while a more vegetal tea can bring an original note to a vegetable broth or certain grains.
4. Steep tea in cream or milk
This is one of the most interesting techniques for desserts. Slowly heat your milk or cream, remove from heat, add the tea then strain after steeping.
This base can then be used for a panna cotta, dessert cream, ganache, ice cream or pastry cream.
5. Use tea in chocolate desserts
Chocolate is particularly interesting to experiment with. A strong black tea can enhance its depth, while a smoked tea brings a surprising contrast when used in moderation.
Fondant, ganache, mousse or chocolate sauce can thus become an excellent playground to discover tea cooking.
6. Add tea to roasted vegetables
Carrots, squash, sweet potatoes, mushrooms and leeks handle very well certain tea flavors.
You can prepare a small tea and honey reduction, then brush it over the vegetables before or after cooking.
With a smoked tea like Lapsang Souchong, we quickly get a particularly interesting impression of wood-fired cooking.
7. Create tea butters, syrups and condiments
Tea can also become the base of a condiment. A flavored butter, a syrup or a reduction allow you to use a small amount at the time of plating.
This is a particularly interesting technique when you want tea to remain subtle and perfectly controlled.
Which tea to choose for cooking?
| Tea type | Profile | Cooking ideas |
|---|---|---|
| Black tea | Bold, malty, woody | Sauces, chocolate, fruit, meats |
| Green tea | Vegetal, fresh | Fish, vegetables, rice, light desserts |
| Oolong | Floral, creamy or roasted | Pears, creams, fruit, desserts |
| Lapsang Souchong | Smoky, woody | Salmon, duck, mushrooms, vegetables, chocolate |
How to properly dose tea in cooking?
There is no universal dosage: it all depends on the tea, the volume of liquid and the aromatic strength desired.
One rule remains however very useful: it is better to start with a reasonable amount and then reinforce. An infusion that is too long can increase bitterness without necessarily improving the balance of the dish.
Cap sur le Thé advice
Taste the tea before cooking it
Before imagining a recipe, take a few minutes to taste the tea alone. Identify what it evokes to you: flowers, fruit, vegetal, wood, smoke, cocoa, spices... These sensations will naturally give you ideas of pairings.
To go further
Discover why Lapsang Souchong is so interesting in cooking
Among all teas, Lapsang Souchong is undoubtedly one of the most surprising to work as an ingredient thanks to its smoky and woody character.
Discover the Lapsang Souchong guide →The recipe to try
Lacquered salmon with Lapsang Souchong, honey & orange
A first ideal recipe to concretely understand how an infusion of smoked tea can become a real cooking sauce.
See the recipe →Find the tea that will inspire your next recipe
Start by discovering the different tea families and their aromatic profiles. The same ingredient can give very different results depending on the tea chosen.
Frequently asked questions about tea cooking
Can you really cook with all teas?
Many teas can be used in cooking, but their aromatic profile must be adapted to the dish. A vegetal green tea and a smoked black tea will not be used in the same way.
How to use tea in a recipe?
The simplest is to prepare an infusion then incorporate it into a sauce, a marinade, a broth, milk or cream.
Which tea to use with salmon?
A smoked tea like Lapsang Souchong is particularly interesting with salmon due to its woody profile and its ability to balance a naturally fatty fish.
Which tea to use in a dessert?
Oolongs, certain black teas and certain flavored teas are particularly interesting in creams, fruit desserts, chocolate and pastries.
How to avoid bitterness of tea in cooking?
Respect a temperature and an infusion time adapted to the chosen tea, then increase rather the quantity of leaves if you need a more concentrated infusion.
A tea leaf can flavor a cup.
It can also transform a plate.
Cap sur le Thé — learn to know tea differently.
