Tea on top of the world

You tend not to think of France when enjoying a classic afternoon tea on a scorching Bangkok day. But one of France’s oldest tea brands not only pioneered afternoon tea in Paris in the nineteenth century, but also mastered the art of blending leaves from Ceylon, Assam, Darjeeling and elsewhere. Combine a pot of Fauchon tea with pastries from one of the kingdom’s most talented pastry chefs, and you’ve got a sophisticated afternoon tea to tame the Bangkok heat. The Parisian Afternoon Tea is served in the Lobby Lounge of the Centara Grand @ Central World. The pastries are the work of the hotel’s new French pastry chef, Eric Cochard.
Cochard has been making pastry for the last 27 years in the US, Europe and the Middle East and his credentials include a three-metre-tall cake made for the King of Bahrain while he was working at the Sofitel Bahrain. Yet the price tag for his Parisian afternoon tea is a mere Bt555.
“Fauchon has a good combination of strong, light, perfumed, delicate, decaffeinated and savoury teas. I like these qualities. And it comes from Paris,” says Cochard, explaining why he picked the brand to accompany his scones and pastries. “Though more and more French people are drinking cappuccino with afternoon tea these days,” he adds.
He recommends drinking the tea without milk and sugar. “Milk has butter which alters the flavour. So it’s better to use cream which has less. Honey is better than sugar,” he says.
The way the hot tea is poured into the glass is also important, he says. Don’t pour the tea too close to the cup. You must pour it from high up, the way they do it in the Middle East. This allows the tea to contact the oxygen and create bubbles in the tea.
“When the oxygen comes inside the tea, the flavour comes out,” he says.
The tea is served with a vast selection of classic French pastries, savoury snacks, fine canap