Haute Tea Cuisine: New Techniques for Tea-Infused French Cooking

As a beverage, artisanal tea is as complex as wine--perhaps more so, and just as packed with aromatics and flavors as your most sophisticated ingredients. With a 5,000-year history, thousands of varietals, and more production methods than any other beverage, tea is not just a drink: its flavors have remained uncharted territory as an ingredient. Until now, there have been two challenges facing the usage of tea as a new frontier for cooking. One, tea flavors are sophisticated and subtle, and other ingredients can overpower it easily. Two, tea flavors are difficult to extract, as tea has traditionally been steeped in water. Extracting tea’s best flavors without its bitterness has remained a mystery to many chefs. Often, chefs defaulted to the strong, simple flavors found in basic black or flavored teas. Until now, the world of artisan tea has not been available to haute cuisine. In the groundbreaking new recipes presented in "Haute Tea Cuisine", author F. Lit Yu reveals innovative techniques to extract complex tea flavors in oils, butter, cream, alcohol, and other cooking applications. Though these recipes are rooted in the French culinary tradition, these tea extraction techniques can be applied to any type of cuisine. This accessible instructional guide represents a genuine intersection of Eastern and Western cultures for all, from the enthusiast home cook to the experienced chef in search of new ideas.