Cheese and infusions? Go now! We thus predict the first reactions of those to whom you offer this combination so apparently impertinent. Abroad they already do it and here, in Spain, traditions are beginning to be stirred up thanks to a series of ecological infusions under the name of Click and designed to be combined with artisan cheeses.
When we think of a good cheese tribute almost always we usually accompany it with a good wine. It has always been done this way and contrary to what that famous saying says, it is the perfect combination. Until now.
Trying to mobilize the status quo and make room for new mixtures that break with what is stipulated, a concept that unites cheese and tea has just been unveiled in Spain_:_ Click , a project promoted by La Tetera Azul (Pharmadus) –a Leonese family company dedicated to the production of infusions and teas– together with Granja Cantagrullas from Valladolid and Quesería Cultivo from Madrid, contributing their experience and human team to seek harmony.
"We are a society in which wine has a leading role in gastronomy. This is how both cheeses and other of our most relevant and representative products have traditionally been consumed: with wines. Therefore, there has been no room for hot drinks or others as possible candidates for pairing with cheese," he says. Rubén Valbuena, manager of Cantagrullas Farm and one of the Cultivation owners.
And it is tea, that hot drink that we have known so little about in Spain (ask for one at the bar "on the corner" and you will see it) because of our preference for coffee, which makes it much more "friendly" cheese tasting, making it easier to enjoy a greater variety of cheeses and greater quantity without tiring us or leaving us feeling tired or heavy after eating.
Click achieves this with ten different infusions in five cases with a tasting suggestion. For example, the Kashmir Chai infusion, made with cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, cloves and black pepper, is suggested with soft pastes with a moldy rind such as brie-type cheeses. While Nilgiri Hills black tea is recommended with washed rinds; the Royal Tea & Cocoa –with almonds, rose petals and strawberries– with hard pastries with sweet notes, toffee and caramel; and the infusion of Moringa, Matcha and Mango with cheeses of complex flavors.
A different technology to make each of the harmonies with Spanish artisan cheeses (available in Farming Cheese , both in its face-to-face store and online) as references and responding to criteria of type of milk, cheese technology used, origin of the cheese and harmony with its producers.
"In any case, it should be noted that this is a great opportunity for us to carry out this surprising tasting exercise (cheeses and teas), to describe a third dimension of cheeses. Those new flavors and textures that are hidden and that we do not perceive if it were not for a hot and flavored drink, which makes this pairing a very special one", concludes Valbuena.
And while we're at it, what similarities are there (if any) between wine and tea? "There aren't. The experience differs a lot with both because, to begin with, the drink is hot, and that fact incorporates some possibilities in the pairing that neither wine nor other drinks that we are used to drinking at lower temperatures have. On the other side, as the world of infusions is so wide, the aromas that we can achieve are huge ", clarifies Valbuena.