Where wine country meets the tea slopes

Here's an interesting Q&A — where wine blogs and tea blogs meet. The intrepid couple behind Catavino talks to Henrietta Lovell, owner of the Rare Tea Company, about how teas and wines can complement each other. A sample, this discussion of which teas to use at a wine tasting to cleanse the palate:

Oolong is the most flexible. Good oolong has such depth of flavour it can stand up beside the richest reds but is subtle enough to work with delicate white.

Generally I would suggest using whole leaf green teas with white wines. With softer red you need a good oolong and as you move into really full bodied reds the best pairing is a rich black tea like the malty caramel of Emperor’s Breakfast.

The important thing to remember is the first sip of tea is overwhelmed by the residual wine in you pallet. It is the second sip that the flavours are revealed.