Thinking outside the Cup: Cooking with tea

Tea is the most popular beverage worldwide, second only to water in its rate of consumption. And its popularity is only growing. One might even call it trending. Not only has the use of tea become mainstream in cocktails, it’s spilling out of the beverage category into cooking and baking.

Why Cook with Tea?

Tea lends unique flavor to both savory and sweet dishes. It can enhance a recipe by creating multidimensional flavors. It can also help to add moisture and/or texture. Tea can be used to add floral, fruity, earthy, smokey, spicy, or sweet notes to main dishes, sides, and even desserts. With the variety of tea available, possibilities are endless!

Perhaps surprisingly, incorporating tea into food is fairly easy to do. You can infuse a recipe with tea by adding steeped tea or even the tea leaves themselves directly to a recipe.

3 ways to cook with tea:

1. Infusions: Water isn’t the only thing tea leaves can be infused in. Try infusing leaves in alcohol, butter, oil and milk. Steeping tea leaves directly into dairy products like milk or heavy cream is a way to add flavor to desserts. If the recipe is calling for milk, try cold steeping tea leaves in milk before adding it in (this does take some advanced planning).

2. Seasoning: Use tea leaves as a seasoning, spice, or garnish in savory dishes. Grind tea leaves to a fine texture with a spice grinder or mortar & pestle. Create your own seasoning by adding other herbs and spices. Or use teas that have already been ground into a fine powder (not instant tea), like Matcha, Houjicha, Hibiscus, or Butterfly Pea Flower. This can be used as a rub or to season veggies, meats, fish, tofu and other dishes.

3. Liquid Replacement: When a recipe calls for liquids like water or broth, consider using tea! Simply replace some or all of the liquid that is call for with brewed tea. This works with soups, curries, and sauces. Brewed tea can also be used to cook oatmeal, pasta, rice, or other grains; and to poach fruit, fish, or eggs.

What tea to use

Most teas, tea blends, and herbal tisane’s can be used in these methods. When experimenting with incorporating tea into your cooking, think about what flavors may compliment the dish you are creating and how prominent you’d like the flavor to be. Consider the flavors that already exist in the recipe. What will compliment or contrast those flavors?

Floral: lightly roasted oolongs (Petoskey Stones, Iron Mountain, etc.), Mythical Mitten, Rosie

Fruity: Traverse City Cherry, Earl Grey Skies, Mackinac Island Paradise, Shipwreck Alley Strawberry, Shoreline Serenade

Spicy: Michigan Masala Chai, Winter Wonderland, Cozy Cabin Chai, MI CHAI, Downriver Ginger

Savory: black tea (Lansing Lapsang Souchong, Battle Creek Keemun), dark tea, oolongs (Copper Country, Michigander Milk Oolong), some green teas like Harvest Moon Houjicha and Grand Rapids Genmaicha

Cooking and Baking Ideas

Baked goods: Incorporate tea into cakes, cookies and bread. I’ve used tea leaves in our Small Batch Scones.
Infused Milk: Use flavor infused milk for making frosting/icing and ice cream.
Marinades: Marinate meats in brewed tea to add depth and tenderness. Lansing Lapsang Souchong is a popular choice for this.
Seasoning: Create a signature rub with ground tea leaves and spices to use as a rub on meat, or a seasoning.
Smoothies: Add ½ teaspoon of finely ground tea leaves or matcha powder to your smoothie to boost the antioxidant content and balance the sweetness of the fruit. Or replace juice or milk with brewed tea.
Tea Salt: combine ¼ cup kosher or sea salt & 1 tsp matcha or houjicha powder. Use as you would regular salt.
Simple Syrup: Tea leaves can be infused in simple syrup, which can be used to sweeten tea, cocktails, and desserts.
Infused butter/oil: melt butter or heat oil in a pot, add tea leaves and let it steep for 5 minutes on low heat. Remove from heat and let the mixture cool for a few minutes. Then, strain the tea leaves and allow the butter/oil return to room temperature before using it in a recipe.