The Key to Tea

Doing research and lec­tur­ing about tea is based on the plant Camel­lia sin­en­sis, which can be treated dif­fer­ently to get six main types of tea: black, green, white, oolong, yel­low, and Pu-Erh tea. In addi­tion, the nam­ing can also change due to the col­or of the tea’s infu­sion; the tea that is usu­ally called “black tea” out­side of China is named “red tea” with­in China, oolong tea can also be found as “blue-green tea,” and pu-erh tea is called “black tea” in China.

After water, tea is the most con­sumed bever­age in the world. In many nations, espe­cially in Asia, but also in Poland, Türki­ye, Geor­gia, and Azerbaijan, tea is the every­day drink. But, in most of the oth­er coun­tries, tea and related beverages/​cocktails are still rarely found on res­taur­ant menus. Primar­ily, tea is part of break­fast or after­noon tea offer­ings. In many European coun­tries, indi­vidu­al tea trad­ing com­pan­ies have spe­cial­ized in cater­ing and offer hotels and res­taur­ants the whole range of tea, teapots, and tea strain­ers, as well as train­ing courses on tea. Since tea can be drunk ice-cold, cold, luke­warm, warm, or hot, this makes it a very flex­ible com­pan­ion. There is also the pos­sib­il­ity to elab­or­ate with steep­ing time and the amount of tea in rela­tion to water to increase or decrease cer­tain fla­vors or tex­tures, such as tan­nins, to per­fect the food pairing.

Tea is a ver­sat­ile com­pan­ion that can accom­pany a com­plete menu. Many white and green teas, oolongs, and also black teas are ideal. More aro­mat­ic teas, such as Lapsang Souchong (smoked tea) or Pu-Erh, are a little more chal­len­ging. For example, a dish that would be accom­pan­ied by a lightly toasted, bar­rel-aged Amer­ic­an oak Chardon­nay can also be well accom­pan­ied by a 60% oxid­ized Oolong, as Oolongs also con­tain vanilla notes.

The ETCI aims to ana­lyze, com­pare, and struc­ture tea-related bever­ages and dishes, tea pair­ing oppor­tun­it­ies, and also spe­cif­ic habits and socially dom­in­at­ing tea cere­mon­ies as a cul­tur­al her­it­age in Europe. In addi­tion, water-related top­ics and research pro­jects regard­ing wine as a “sib­ling” are also part of the port­fo­lio of the European Tea Cul­ture Insti­tute, recog­niz­ing the hol­ist­ic approach of tea. In addi­tion, tea in dif­fer­ent envir­on­ments is part of the ETCI’s interest.