9 Top Teas in the Bay Area to pair with pastries

The Bay Area has some of the best local tea spots in the U.S. Recently, we got some expert advice from a few of the owners and managers of these tea houses about which teas pair best with our pastries. It was useful insight both for our own pastries and how they think about flavor pairings overall. Take a look below and check out the cafes on your next visit!

The black sesame bun is a soft, pillowy bread with a crunchy, sweet, nutty and earthy black sesame crust. It's a substantial bread that you can savor slowly, paired with a tea that is perfect for sipping, our toasty, nutty Hojicha Green Tea. The smoky, comforting qualities of Hojicha make it a perfect pairing with this hearty, delectable bun. 

The flower shape of the red bean mooncake immediately evokes images of a stroll through botanical gardens filled with wondrous flora. The sweet, hearty red bean filling is a perfect pairing with our crisp, full flavored House Jasmine Green Tea. The tea cuts through richness of the mooncake like a butter knife, and the jasmine undertones will enhance the vividness of botanical garden images your mind inevitably wanders to. 

I like the flavor but the filling seemed a little more dense than I would like. I paired it with our Guangxi Xue Ya, a stronger green tea that resembles a Yunnan green tea profile, I suspect any good Yunnan Green Tea with that trademark apricot undertone would work well here, brewed 3 minutes with low-medium heat, this tea has good fruitiness and good texture. I found the combination worked well. It complimented each other better than expected. I brewed the tea, took a small sip and then took a small bite of the mooncake, after chewing the mooncake, I chased it off again with another sip of tea. The finish is pretty interesting - it was refreshing and the tea and the cake worked well together without losing itself.

Black Sesame Sugar Mooncookie + Oolong

I paired this tea with a Imperial 2nd Flush Darjeeling and also a good Xue Pian Phoenix Oolong, both worked very well using the same method as I did with the green tea mooncake, the 2nd flush darjeeling was brewed 3 minutes with medium temp water, the slight bitterness and the interesting lighter body black tea complimented the sweeten sesame. I then used a stronger flavored Xue Pian Phoenix Oolong, brewed in near boiling water for 3 minutes, the honey floral tone and intensity of this tea is a great match and made everything about the black sesame and sugar alive.

• Imperial Tea Garden Owner Roy Fong

 

Teance Fine Teas (Berkeley)