Is that Cream in Your Tea or Tea in Your Cream?

There’s nothing new about placing tea and dairy in the same cup. The origins of the practice may be clouded in history but the Brits certainly aren’t the only ones who enjoy the combination. Think about Thai tea with its sweetened condensed milk, the salted yak butter-enriched black tea of Tibet and Nepal, spiced milky chai in India, Hong Kong milk tea and East Frisian cream tea. The debate may rage on about whether one should put milk in the cup first and pour hot brewed tea over it, or the other way around, but there’s no contesting the pleasures of drinking a whitened cuppa mellowed, like a bit of liquid caramel in a cup. But what about extending that alliance beyond the china cup into the realm of dessert where milk, cream and also butter become the medium to carry tea’s wonderfully complex flavor? As a pastry chef and baker driven by flavor and the potential of ingredients including tea, I have been exploring that intersection to arrive at tea-flavored sweets whose simple execution belies their satisfying complexity on the palate.

But not just any tea. I like to keep good quality Indian or Ceylon black teas, kitchen grade matcha and the smoky teas of China front and center in my cupboard, at the ready to infuse their special character into dairy of all kinds. Whatever the dessert or sweet, there’s a tea that will make it even more delicious.

Ways to use liquid dairy

Tea Panna Cotta

Serves 4.

1-1/2 c. (approximately 12 ozs.) whole milk OR a combination of ¾ c. (approximately 6 ozs.) whole milk and ¾ c. (approximately 6 ozs.) heavy cream
1 T. fragrant premium quality whole tea leaves of your choice (My favorites include Indian teas from Assam or Nilgiris and Keemun)
1/3 c. (2-2/3 ozs) granulated sugar or honey
2 t. (.20 oz or 5.6 grams) powdered gelatin OR 2 gelatin sheets (weighing 3 grams each)

Note: If using powdered gelatin, mix it with 2 T. cold water and set aside. If using gelatin sheets, cover them in ice water for about 5 minutes or until softened, squeeze out any excess water and then set aside

Bring the milk or milk and cream mixture to a boil in a heavy saucepan. Add the tea leaves, remove from the heat and allow to infuse long enough for the tea flavor to come through clearly; the mixture should also appear slightly colored by the tea. Pour the mixture through a fine meshed sieve into a clean saucepan and again bring to the boil. Remove from the heat and add the sugar, stirring to dissolve completely and then add the gelatin, stirring again. Now pour the mixture into 4 individual-serving sized molds.
Carefully place the molds on to a level shelf in the refrigerator and chill for about 2 hours. (This dessert may be made a day in advance of serving.) When ready to serve, dip the molds into hot water for 20 or 30 seconds and then invert on to dessert plates. Serve immediately.

Tea Caramel over Darjeeling poached peaches with ice cream

This recipe for Tea Caramel is another example of how fragrant fresh tea leaves of premium quality can flavor a simple sauce for plain cakes, ice cream or even as a dip for rich chocolate chip shortbread cookies. Try making it with Darjeeling or a rich malty Assam tea. Refrigerated in a container with a tight fitting lid, this handy sauce will keep well for about a week.

Yield: approximately 2 cups

1-1/2 c. granulated sugar
1-1/2 c. heavy cream
2 T. premium quality whole leaf tea of your choice

Salt to taste

Place cream and tea leaves into a heavy saucepan and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat and allow the tea leaves to infuse in the cream until the flavor of the tea is apparent.
Pour through a fine meshed sieve into another clean saucepan and keep warm on low heat on the stove while you make the caramel as follows.
In a clean heavy saucepan, melt the sugar, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon or heatproof spatula to ensure even melting. When the mixture starts to lightly brown, carefully and gently stir any unmelted sugar into the melted molten liquid sugar. Continue to cook until you produce an amber tea-colored liquid. Do not burn the mixture or the resulting caramel will be bitter. Remove from heat just as the liquid turns amber in color.
Immediately pour the warm tea-infused cream into the caramel, carefully stirring until the caramel re-liquefies completely (this mixture will bubble up violently so stir very carefully).
Add a pinch of salt to taste (remember the caramel is very hot so cool it off a bit before tasting).
When cool, pour into a heatproof jar with a tight fitting lid. Cover and refrigerate. It may be necessary to rewarm the mixture before serving. You can do this by placing it in a microwave safe vessel and warming in 2 or 3 second increments until fully melted and warm.

Here’s an example of how three ingredients combine to prove that the whole can be greater than the sum of its parts. A sauce, a filling for a bonbon, or a spread to go on toast with your morning cup of tea, this Tea Ganache is another way to showcase the flavor profile of your favorite tea. I like to use a smoky Lapsang Souchong here and a dark chocolate (60-70%) with high levels of cocoa solids and cocoa butter.

shortbread with tea ganache edited — shortbread with tea ganache

Yield: approximately 8 oz

8 oz high quality chocolate, chopped
1 c. (approximately 8 oz) heavy cream
1 T. premium quality whole leaf tea

Place chocolate into a heatproof bowl and set aside.
In a heavy saucepan, bring the cream with the tea leaves to a boil. Remove from the heat, allow to infuse for about 10 minutes or until the flavor of the tea is discernible in the cream.
Pass the mixture through a fine meshed sieve set over a clean saucepan, pressing hard on the tea leaves to extract as much of the liquid as possible. Bring again to the bowl and pour the liquid over the chocolate. Stir until the mixture is smooth.
Allow to cool and store in the refrigerator in a container with a tight fitting lid. This will keep for about a week.

For another example of simplicity on the plate, you need go no further than the dairy case in your supermarket. Buy good quality heavy cream, pick your favorite tea of the moment and boil them together until the tea gives up its flavor and color to the liquid. (I suggest ½ ounce of tea leaves to 8 ounces of heavy cream). Sieve out the tea leaves, pressing hard on them in a fine meshed sieve to extract as much of the liquid as possible and then thin down with a bit of milk, if you like. Depending on your intended use, now add a pinch of salt for a savory dish, and a bigger pinch of sugar for a sweet one. Now simply add that soupçon of richness to a salmon steak as a main dish (here I use about one tablespoon of Lapsang Souchong-infused cream per serving) or about the same amount for a single serving of summery peaches poached in Darjeeling tea at the finish of a meal.

Ways to use solid dairy—butter

Beyond flavoring sweets with tea, many savory dishes are particularly well suited to being accented with tea-flavored butter. Simply melt unsalted good quality butter until liquid, add aromatic tea leaves to it and then allow to simmer for a couple of minutes. Cover the pan to capture more of the tea flavor and allow the tea butter to cool. Now sieve out the tea and reserve the infused butter. This may be stored refrigerated for a couple of days in a container with a tight fitting lid. I like to use this tea butter as a simple basting liquid on an oven roasted filet of fish or as a finish for a quickly sautéed paillard of chicken breast. And poaching lobster out of its shell in tea butter is an indulgence for special occasions.

Butter the fat of choice used in sweets, can be melted, flavored with tea, sieved and then used in cake batters such as a flourless chocolate tea torte. It can also play a role in a short dough. Feel free to experiment with your own favorite teas. Like a kaleidoscope with its shifting interior designs, with each permutation of tea and dairy, a winning new flavor combination will come into focus.