Tea and Christmas dinner: pairings from aperitif to Yule log

Why tea goes with festive dishes

A tea accompanies a dish in two ways: it extends it or it contrasts with it. Its tannins refresh the palate after a rich dish, its length stands up to powerful flavours, its aromas (smoky, woody, fruity, floral) echo those on the plate. It has two further advantages on a festive evening: it is alcohol-free, and it is served hot, at the right temperature, from the first course to the last.

The rule fits in one sentence: a delicate dish calls for a delicate tea, a powerful dish for a tea with body. Serve unflavoured teas with savoury dishes, flavoured teas with dessert.

With aperitifs and smoked salmon

With smoked salmon, Lapsang Chinbara (€11 per 100 g) is the clearest pairing: a wood-smoked black tea whose smoke answers that of the fish. Serve it light, 4 minutes rather than 5, so the smoke remains an echo rather than a mask. With oysters, shellfish and briny appetisers, a delicate Japanese green tea: Sencha Tani (€16 per 100 g), with notes of honey and almond, respects their finesse. Steep it for 2 minutes at 85 °C, 4 g per 200 ml.

With foie gras

Foie gras calls for a tea with roundness and natural sweetness, without added sugar: a Formosa oolong. Oriental Beauty (€52 per 100 g), the most prized of the island's oolongs, with its scent of wild orchid, embraces its sweetness; Grand Oolong (€20 per 100 g), with its floral roundness, is a more affordable version. Both are steeped for 7 minutes at 95 °C. For a richer, pan-fried foie gras, Pu-Erh (€10 per 100 g), a dark tea with a deep, woody, velvety liquor, cleanses the palate between mouthfuls.

With poultry, capon and turkey with chestnuts

Roast poultry and its trimmings (chestnuts, mushrooms, celeriac purée) pair with Chinese black teas, rounded and low in astringency. Grand Yunnan (€11 per 100 g), rich in golden tips, is enveloping; Grand Keemun FOP (€12 per 100 g), mellow and floral, accompanies more delicate poultry, a poularde or a capon in cream sauce. With game, or a morel or truffle sauce, Pu-Erh returns: its woody liquor stands up to forest-floor flavours.

With cheese

A festive cheese board calls for two teas. Darjeeling Master (€14 per 100 g), a great Darjeeling blend rich in aroma, pairs with goat's cheeses and fresh cheeses; Grand Oolong, rounded and floral, with cooked pressed cheeses, Comté or Beaufort. Lapsang Chinbara stands up to blue cheeses.

For dessert: the Yule log, chocolate, the thirteen desserts

For dessert, the Mariage Frères Christmas teas take over. With a chocolate Yule log, Christmas Party (almond, chocolate, hazelnut) or Bûche de Noël tea (citrus, chocolate, caramel, red berries), in 80 g miniatures at €28. With a fruit Yule log or an orange dessert, Christmas Orange. With a caramel dessert, Milky Blue Caramelo (€21 per 100 g), an oolong tea with cocoa husks. In Provence, with the thirteen desserts, Noël in Love, an oolong tea composed around them (30 cotton muslin tea sachets, €25).

After the meal, naturally caffeine-free

To end the evening, a herbal infusion: Ombelle Hiver Frais Menthe Réglisse (€8.10 per 100 g), mint and aniseed, refreshes after a rich meal; Rooibos Veillée de Noël Orange (€7 per 100 g) keeps the festive spirit, naturally caffeine-free. Herbal infusions are steeped in boiling water, 7 to 12 minutes depending on the recipe.

Serving a large table

• The measure: 2.5 g of tea per 200 ml, that is 12 to 13 g for a one-litre teapot, five cups.
• The time: remove the leaves at the end of the steeping time, or pour the tea into a second warmed teapot. A tea left to steep throughout the meal turns bitter.
• The order: from lightest to strongest: green tea, oolong, black tea, then flavoured teas with dessert.
• The cups: small cups, refilled several times, rather than a large mug that goes cold.

The pairing table