FRIDAY, March 29, 2024
nationthailand

The highest of high teas

The highest of high teas

The Shangri-La wins a Dilmah Tea challenge by giving tradition a modern flavour

A team from the Shangri-La Bangkok won the first Dilmah Real High Tea Challenge to be held in Thailand earlier this month. Its reward is to go through it all over again in the global finals next May in Sri Lanka.
    Hotels around the country sent 15 representatives each, but it was the Shangri-La squad – led by executive pastry chef Reinolf Moessl and Wilai Tangprasertsuk of the lobby lounge – that won with a “Royal Pink” presentation. It was a harmonious fusion of traditional Thai charm, five-star-hotel opulence and subtle uses of the colour pink.
    Sri Lankan tea brand Dilmah has been holding its Real High Tea Challenges since 2007, long before buckets of ice were being passed around. The tea challenges take place around the planet, with Hong Kong, Macao, Japan, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and Thailand joining this year for the first time.
All that’s required is a contemporary approach to tea presentation. The judges want to see high tea redefined for the 21st century, in a way that shows an understanding of the varying terroirs and tastes. They want to see tea combined with food, preferable dishes made with local ingredients.
    “The idea is to challenge the chefs to understand tea,” said Dilhan Fernando, the firm’s marketing director and a son of its founder, Merrill Fernando. “We’re not just asking them to put tea in food, but to understand the aspect of terroir in tea. We want them to go beyond scones and cucumber sandwiches when it comes to food pairing.
“And it’s very beneficial for them commercially, because tea is the fastest-growing beverage in the world right now. Like wine, tea has a terroir and hence can offer many different tastes, aromas and textures. The good thing about tea is that, unlike wine, it can be paired with an even greater variety in cuisine. Anything can go well with tea, savoury or sweet.
“With this competition we aim to make tea fashionable with respect to traditions,” Fernando said. “We’re not the first ‘tea challenge’, but we’re definitely the toughest.”
    Each team brought two talents to the event – in tea and in food presentation. They were first required to concoct a brew of traditional loose-leaf black tea, a tea mocktail, another cocktail with alcohol content, and a tea comforter.
They next had to come up with six food items, and finally a series of pairings. Everything had to be served to the judges within 30 minutes, and the panel included not just Fernando but chefs Bernd Uber of Germany and Jamnong Nirungsan of Thailand.
    “We’ve seen a lot of creativity in Thailand, and I see a lot of pride in your local ingredients, especially ones from the Royal Projects,” Fernando said.
“The fresh produce and aromatic herbs here are unmatched, and it really shows how you have strong agricultural culture. It’s great fun and very interesting to see how they mix these up and create wonderful dishes. This is exactly what we’re looking for – respect in the heritage of tea and creativity in flavours.”
 

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