Tea for Dessert

Why tea desserts aren’t a no-brainer for me is a bummer. I’m a tea drinker, not coffee, not hot chocolate, but tea. However, unlike coffee and chocolate, which I take sweetened, I’ve learned not to take sugar in my tea. Milk, yes, thank-you.

My hot drink choices, I’m generally pleased to say, never influence my dessert selection or production. This is why: I only drink hot tea. Of the teas I’ve ever had only Chai is ever served with sugar. Mint tisanes or sweet herbal teas I count separately. I also believe that sweet hot teas and tisanes have to be scalding or equally tart, otherwise I choke on the weird sensation that I’m drinking (tepid and viscous) toothpaste saliva, which is neither appetizing nor satisfying.

My second reason is that my dessert palate is cool or room temperature. The exception being still hot baked items like cookies, scones, or croissants. I prefer room temperature cobblers, pies, and crisps. But the desserts I really love are cold. Ice cream comes to mind. Custards, fruit tarts, puddings, cheesecake, and probably hundreds more variations on the theme are what I seek out.

Theoretically it’s a strange thing that chocolate and coffee infused desserts are regularly part of my pastry life, then, as tea ones aren’t. But it could be another case of hot equals savory and when that’s got over give me cold chocolate milk not cold black tea with sugar. Hmm, or, in a pinch, I’ll take the matcha green tea mochi.