Tea: It’s Not Just for Drinking Anymore

We’re told that Americans are evolving into serious tea drinkers rather than just chilling out with iced tea or dipping an occasional bag into a mug of hot water.

Still, the teas most in demand are sweetened, flavored and novelty teas--witness the craze for Thai tea, then Indian chai and now boba tea with its bouncing tapioca balls. Diet teas have drawn attention. And green tea is on a roll as a health and beauty aid.

That’s a long way from appreciating the difference between a first and second flush Darjeeling (a flush, by the way, is the season in which the leaves are picked).

No matter, there may be another way to get folks to notice fine teas. With their new book, “Eat Tea” (Lyons Press, $19.95), authors Joanna Pruess and John Harney may have found it. They use Darjeeling to tint crackled eggs, which are then stuffed with a spicy crab mixture, and to flavor a rice pudding. They suggest seasoning gravlax with smoky-tasting Lapsang souchong tea and they put that same assertive tea into a barbecue sauce for spareribs, a turkey meatloaf and an Indian dish of cauliflower, potatoes and mushrooms.

Cooking jasmine rice in water flavored with jasmine tea leaves is a no-brainer, but tea-smoked duck with a delicate jasmine aroma could be interesting, and green fruits in jasmine tea syrup sounds lovely.

Pruess is a cookbook writer and food consultant. Harney is the founder of John Harney & Sons of Salisbury, Conn., blenders and distributors of fine teas. They devote the first 10 pages to tea basics, including the correct way to brew and Harney’s method for decaffeinating tea at home. At the end, Harney matches teas with dishes. Some recipes call for special blends from his company, a promotional angle that’s to be expected, but there are plenty that call for generic black tea, green tea, chamomile and others.

The concept of cooking with tea may sound novel but is as logical as cooking with wines, spirits, coffee and other beverages. It just hasn’t received as much attention.