Tea gastronomy

CEBU, Philippines – The tea was in my bread, the tea was in my food, the tea was in my drink – there was tea everywhere! It was an Evening of Tea Gastronomy at the Radisson Blu Cebu, the culminating event after the launch of the first Dilmah t-Bar in the Philippines.

Dilmah is a brand of Ceylon tea, from Sri Lanka. The tea’s popularity is traced to have started with Merrill J. Fernando being selected to be in the batch of the first Ceylonese sent to London to be trained in tea.

During the training, it occurred to Fernando that his native country was merely a supplier of raw materials, earning profits that were a pittance compared to the earnings of multinational companies that imported, manufactured and distributed the finish product.

The situation was corrected in 1988, by the Dilmah brand, the first producer-owned tea brand in Ceylon.

The rest is history, so to speak, and Dilmah tea has since been available in 92 countries, making it to the top ten best tea brands in the world. Last week, the Philippines became the 93rd country where to enjoy Dilmah tea – in the launch graced by the presence its founder Merrill J. Fernando and son Dilhan Fernando, with matching traditional afternoon high tea at Radisson Blu Cebu.

Your favorite food writer has always associated tea as a medicine in his youth – my parents made me drink tea when I had indigestion and a fever. Later, my father came home from Australia and gave me tea mixed with milk and my uneducated palate thought it was the most repugnant drink I had ever tasted.

Fast forward to my very first trip abroad – in Hong Kong, where tea was served all day. Visits to the rest room were frequent, since tea with theophylline is a diuretic, like coffee (caffeine) and cocoa (theobromine). Much later, I tasted various teas, from England, Japan and China, including a tea harvested, excuse me, by trained monkeys!

Back to Tea Gastronomy at Radisson Blu Cebu, with dishes prepared by Executive Chef Roberto Kunitz. It was my very first dinner with tea added to the food, bread and spread, and to be paired with a specific tea drink. The dinner opened with the Green Tea with Jasmine Flowers Sous Vide Cured Salmon, with Black Tea Caviar. The tea-infused bread was called Ceylon Young Hyson Green Tea Dinner roll with a spread, Green Tea Cream Cheese. So many new flavors to dissect that I had a hard time analyzing it, because I never had these dishes in the past as a point of reference or comparison.

It was followed by the Two Colored Ravioli with Braised Beef Cheeks, Rooibos Butter Glaze and the tea to match was Rooibos Pure Natural Organic. Family, friends and clients of Dilmah Tea were serenaded all night by Kate Toralba; I had my ravioli to the tune of Burt Bacharach’s “I’ll Never Fall in Love Again.”

The Mango Strawberry Tea Sorbet was then served, followed by the main dish – the Slow Roasted Beef Tenderloin, Dilmah Moroccan Green Tea Béarnaise, Sautéed Mushroom with the drink, Moroccan Mint Green Tea. Wines – Fat Bastard Chardonnay, 2013 and Beringer Cabernet Sauvignon 2013 – were available with all the dishes, but this time my preference was the Moroccan Tea to pair with the lovely beef.

Dessert was Rose with French Vanilla Orange Cake, Earl Grey Chocolate Maracaibo Cream on Sphere, Dilmah Lemon Tea Ice Cream, all going with the song of Kate Torralba, “True Colors” (a Cyndi Lauper original). My final tea drink that night was Seasonal Flush Black Tea.