Fera at Claridge's and Postcard Teas - A Fine Dining & Tea Pairing Experience to Reckon With

Words & Photography by Greg Klerkx and Luiz Hara

Pity the fine diner who doesn’t imbibe. Wine, spirits and beer are like dance partners in a great meal: enhancing, enriching and just adding another dimension to the fine dining experience. Most replacement partners – fizzy water, a mocktail – can seem, so to speak, to have two left feet. Just not the same. 

If you’re a non-alcoholic diner (or a tippler up for a change), rejoice in the ever-imaginative Simon Rogan and the folks at Postcard Teas. For the past six months, Rogan’s signature restaurant, Fera at Claridge’s, has boldly gone where few restaurants have gone before: a ‘fine tea’ drinks menu paired with Rogan’s subtle and inventive Michelin-starred cuisine. 

Tea isn’t an obvious fine cuisine partner, not even in the East. The challenge is more pronounced with Western food, which the Postcard Teas website openly acknowledges: ‘A major issue for tea is that it is traditionally served hot. In the West, hot drinks are served only towards the end of a meal.’ There is cold brewing, of course, but what’s gained in aroma and subtlety is often lost in balance and body, particularly when paired with food. 

There is a third way, called ambient brewing. Brewed and served at temperatures between 10C and 20C, ambient brewing enables fine tea to keep its aromas as well as its structure. Postcard Teas and Fera vacuum store their teas after brewing and serve them in special glass flasks, which maintains a constant temperature and flavour integrity.

So, those are the technical challenges solved. But does fine tea, however it’s concocted, actually partner with fine cuisine?

Tea can be appreciated much like wine. Tannins, body, complexity, sweetness, umami: all present and accounted for. Chef Rogan and Postcard Teas founder Timothy D’Offay assembled a 5-course pairing, including two starters, two mains and a dessert with a couple of delectable canapés thrown in for good measure. Teas were served in wine glasses and varied in colour from pale straw to light copper; served in this way, the Postcard Teas had the translucent beauty of white and rose wine. 

We began with a gently carbonated Spring Darjeeling from Kalimpong, India (£10) with notes of elderflower and peach: light and summery, and a surprisingly lovely pairing with seaweed cracker, lemon sole and sea herbs. 

A High Mountain Oolong from Chi Lai, Taiwan (£14) followed. Somewhat fuller bodied and with more pronounced citrus notes, it offered a surprisingly firm counterbalance to the chickpea wafer, sweet cheese and elderflower. 

Another oolong (Oriental Beauty, Miaoli, Taiwan) served similar supporting duty matched with cured arctic char, Mylor prawn, bergamot and radish.

When our first meat dish arrived – cylindra beetroot, roe deer, black currant and hemp (gorgeous) – we were slightly surprised to be served a glass of wine (Tom Shobbrook, Barossa Valley, 2014.) Its peppery depth opened up wonders in the roe deer dish. It was a lovely combination, but still we wondered: had we arrived at the outer edge of the tea/fine cuisine envelope? 

Hardly. The most interesting tea of the evening arrived next, Undercover Gyokuro from Kagoshima, Japan (£18). The ‘undercover’ is because it’s shaded in the weeks before harvest, intensifying its sweetness and umami. This tea’s drying process makes the tea brittle, producing a tea that is pleasantly cloudy with residue. It was delicious, and it was hard to imagine a nicer match with the halibut cooked in pine, Kenton leeks, parsley and whey.

Perhaps the greatest tea test of the evening came with the belted Galloway beef, calcot onions, malted parsley root and black truffle – a rich, almost treacly main that fairly screamed for a big Bordeaux or chunky Rhone. 

What arrived instead was Nannuo Shan Shu Puerh (Yunnan, China). This was the only tea that came with a ‘vintage’, in this case 2006. All puerh teas are thus labelled, reflecting the length of time they are fermented, a process that deepens both flavour and texture. The tea’s earthy, licorice flavour not only stood up to the intensity of the beef dish, it actually brought out grace notes of sweetness and smokiness that a powerful red mighty have bowled over.

With perhaps intentional irony, we finished the evening with an alcohol-derived dessert – Stout ice cream, buckwheat and verjus – matched with Hijiri Black Sun from Aichi, Japan (£18). Roasted in Camden, the roasting gives the tea sweetness and surprising amount of depth yet retains its smoothness: one is reminded somewhat of a good matcha. Only the tea’s name is bittersweet: it was named on the day of David Bowie’s death, reflecting his final album, Blackstar.

All in all, Fera and Postcard Teas provided a subtle, surprising dining experience. As happy tipplers, we’re unlikely to go ‘full tea’ anytime soon, but our palates have definitely been opened to tea’s potential as a fine dining partner. It’s a dance we’ll look forward to again.

The 5-course tasting menu at Fera costs £85 per person. The four ambient brewed teas by Postcard Teas are served in 500ml bottles each (enough for 2 diners) and cost £60 for all 4 teas - Spring Darjeeling £10, Gyokuroesque £18, High Mountain Oolong £14 and Hijiri Black Sun £18.

For more information about Fera at Claridge's and Postcard Teas pairing menu, visit their website here.

To learn more about the fantastic range of teas by Postcard Teas, visit their website here.

Scone in sixty seconds…

Words by Felicity Spector

There can’t be many better ways to spend a Saturday afternoon: a gloriously bohemian venue, some of the country’s best chefs whipping up a range of specially created cakes and scones - and all to raise money for Action against Hunger.

Image by Lisa Barber

Top marks, then to the inaugural session of The Scone Club, sponsored by the bespoke tea company Lalani & Co, in the space currently occupied by the Pret a Diner pop up at the Royal Academy’s Burlington Social Club. It was all part of the London Restaurant Festival, which was filling London with all sorts of exciting and eclectic events earlier this month.

Image by Lisa Barber

The seats were packed in around a large square bar, with a space in the middle where a group of chefs were busy doing clever things with confectioners’ sugar and icing trays of buns. We negotiated our way through the subdued lighting and snagged some seats at the back, nearest the cakes: always best to be near the cakes, in my experience.

Image by Lisa Barber

Nadeem Lalani showed us a ‘Tea Library’ with a brief selection of rare, seasonal teas, and then presented us with a small individual pot of First Flush Gopaldhara Garden Darjeeling, together with a little timer to ensure we let it brew for long enough as we waited for our scone fest. It was beautiful, light and fragrant, and incredibly fresh. And all the better for being drunk out of a glass.

Image by Lisa Barber

The food menu couldn’t have sounded more promising, from an array of chefs with 5 Michelin stars between them: there were a couple of savoury options, a brace of cakes, and an intriguing fruit soup concoction from Nobu’s executive pastry chef Regis Cursan.

Image by Lisa Barber

In fact Regis himself was stationed right opposite us, down in the kitchen area, and soon sorted us out with a large slate full of baked goodies to share.

We tried a savoury pinwheel scone stuffed with roasted onion and herbs, from Marcus Waering and Oliver Wilson at the Gilbert Scott, but my favourite was Richard Corrigan and Chris McGowan’s pumpkin and cobnut scone, pale green with pumpkin seed oil, filled with goats cheese and a thick layer of pumpkin chutney.

Image by Lisa Barber

From there we segued easily into the cakes: Anna Hansen, from the Modern Pantry, urging us to take a couple of her delicious pistachio and pandan cakes, while my friend also made short work of a lemon drizzle from Le Manoir. Ravinder Bhogal, best known as Cook in Boots, offered a huge tray of rose scented mini scones with raspberry jam, and some bite sized peanut butter and jam madeleines.

Image by Lisa Barber

You might think any normal person would have been full at this stage - but try resisting Regis Cursan’s interpretation of ‘cake’: an apricot soup, tart and refreshing, with a huge pile of amazingly buttery, melt in the mouth peanut butter cookie pieces - I didn’t have the beer ice-cream which went with it, as I’m teetotal, but everyone around me seemed to be wolfing it down.

Image by Lisa Barber

It would clearly have been rude not to try the special fruit brioche buns, or ’manchets’, from Jeremy Lee which apparently aren’t normally allowed out of Quo Vadis. All I can say is that it was worth the effort. One of my favourites of the afternoon. I did admit defeat at the chocolate scone-brioche from Alexis Gaultier, although I sneaked it home for later. You’d have done the same.

All of this amazing spread managed to raise £2,000 for charity, a fantastic achievement by the boys from Lalani & Co, the chefs who took part, and everyone who pitched in to help.

Image by Lisa Barber

Hopefully this will just be the first Scone Club of many. Personally, I’m thinking of taking out a life membership, if they’ll have me. Hope no-one finds out I sneaked that chocolate brioche home in my handbag.

Words by Felicity Spector
Felicity Spector has worked at Channel 4 News for 23 years and is currently chief writer. She has a bunch of fancy Masters degrees from Oxford and Harvard and writes about US politics. She is also passionate about food and has judged the Great Taste Awards for 5 years, helping to champion the country's best small producers. She is especially passionate about desserts. Cheesecake and brownies a particular specialty.

 Images by Lisa Barber
If you would like to see more of Lisa's fantastic photography, visit her website here.

Tea Appreciation Master Class @ Teanamu

There have been very few occasions when I felt that I had stumbled upon something truly special – Teanamu’s Tea Appreciation Master Class run by the delightful Pei Wang was certainly one of these rare moments.

The few hours I spent at his beautiful home in Notting Hill were an introduction to a fascinating world I admit knowing little about. I felt humbled by the experience but at the same time, very eager to learn more.

Pei has a gracious and calm serenity about him and is also confident and knowledgeable in his area of expertise. Pei explained many interesting facts and anecdotes about his expeditions to China to find the best possible teas, the effects of oxidation on the tea leaves, and also about the ten artisan teas he was about to brew.

The plant from which tea is made is called “Camellia sinensis”, a native of mainland Southern China and Southeast Asia. Fresh leaves contain about 4% caffeine, but luckily (and unlike coffee), the leaves also contain another chemical called “theophylline” which helps us to appreciate the benefits of caffeine by relaxing the muscles while counterbalancing its unpleasant side effects.

So if all Chinese teas come from one single plant, why are there so many different types of tea? From green to white, yellow, oolong and black teas, the difference between them is solely dependent on the levels of oxidation of the leaves. Green teas are un-oxidised, while white teas are very slightly oxidised, with black teas being fully oxidised.

Pei also explained that the quality of the water used will play a key factor in the taste, appearance and aroma of tea – hard water (high levels of calcium), acidic or alkaline waters (PH below/above 7.0) and water containing excessive amounts of chlorine will alter the natural properties of the brewed tea. Pei strongly recommends filtered or pure bottled water.

Another interesting fact was the importance of water temperature in brewing – the higher the water temperature, the more bitter and astringent the tea taste becomes because amino acids, the flavour element dissolves at 60 ˚C (140 ˚F). Tannin, causing astringency, dissolves at 80 ˚C (176 ˚F).

The more delicate types of tea, the un-oxidised and very lightly oxidised green, white and yellow teas, are brewed at low temperatures in porcelain tea pots. The more heavily oxidised teas, black and red varieties, are normally brewed at higher temperatures and served from clay pots which help to retain the heat.

All these delightful snippets of “tea facts” were given to us between tastings of the ten artisan teas that Pei served us which showcased the spectrum of un-oxidised to fully oxidised teas on offer. All teas can be purchased from Pei’s website, and are priced around £4.50 to £5.50 for 30-40gr.

Of note was the very lightly oxidised “Silver Needle”, the most expensive white tea variety and also the most prized as only top buds are used to produce the tea. It tasted delicate and slightly sweet.

The “Silk Oolong” was also a big hit for me – a partially oxidised tea, it had a slightly darker colour and tasted deliciously creamy like buttered popcorn and caramel.

We tried the “Big Snow Mountain Pu Erh 2010 vintage” tea, harvested from 2,000 year old tea trees, this fermented, post-oxidised tea was outstanding. Like a fine Burgundy, Pu Erh tea is aged in a controlled environment for months or even years which helps it to darken in colour and as it slowly matures, it acquires a more intense flavour.

The fully oxidised black tea “Lychee Black” was also sensational – I never thought that a natural tea plant could taste so fruity and sweet. It had a heady scent of tropical fruits and a delicate vanilla hint to the flavour.

Pei suggests this tea to be drunk with dessert, and indeed the “Lychee Black” was the perfect accompaniment to the delightful yuzu macaroons and green tea madeleines that Pei baked for our tasting on that same morning.

I was truly impressed by his macaroons, they were perfect – and the use of “yuzu”, an expensive and very hard to find Japanese lime variety, showed a great sophistication of palate and cooking skills. Pei also provides tea cookery classes at £60 for which I am very tempted to enrol.

The green tea madeleines were also fantastic – wonderfully light and fluffy, they had a delicious hint of vanilla and a lovely nuttiness from the topping of black sesame seeds.

Pei’s tea appreciation class is priced at £35, and lasts for about 3 hours. He also runs a similar class at Bea’s of Bloomsbury on selected Wednesday evenings, and other workshops like “Tea and Meditation” at Holland Park and at Teanamu.

Pei will be hosting a Summer Open House at Teanamu on 3rd July from 12-4pm, when you can experience a free demonstration of traditional tea brewing and sample some of this Spring's fresh green and Pu Erh teas.

After many pots of delicious teas, quite a few macaroons, and one of the most interesting mornings I have had for a very long time, I reluctantly had to leave for another appointment. I left feeling completely blissful having partaken in Pei’s delightful master class.

Teanamu @ The Coach House, 14a St Luke’s Road, London, W11 1DP.