Teetotal and Tea Total

The age-old tradition of tea drinking continues to be stirred up with contemporary flair at fine-dining spots around the world.

- VICTORIA BURROWS

According to legend, the very first cup of tea was drunk in 2737 BCE by the Chinese Emperor Shennong, when dry leaves from a Camellia sinensis tree blew into his cup of hot water. From this chance beginning, tea drinking found its way into Chinese cultural tradition. Over the centuries, it evolved into a precise and elegant art form, which spread beyond China, especially to Japan.

Now, more than 4,000 years later, tea drinking is once again evolving, and it is served with contemporary flair in fine-dining restaurants around the world. From sparkling to fermented, and flavoured with truffles, fruit or spices, tea is being paired with tofu and pheasant, dumplings and dessert. At Michelin-starred restaurants worldwide, fermented cold tea-kombucha is also giving non-alcoholic drinks a depth of flavour.

Chef Tomoya Kawada of Tokyo's Sazenka, which just ranked 11th on Asia's 50 Best Restaurants list, is taking modern tea drinking to new heights. His restaurant, which serves Chinese cuisine infused with a Japanese sensibility, is rooted in the two countries' shared culture of tea drinking. Even the 12-seater's name references tea: "Sa" comes from the word for tea ceremony sado.

His creative tea-making includes shaving truffles into the bowl along with Yunnan white tea leaves to create a heady brew that is paired with a dish of jellyfish and white jelly mushroom. The signature Young Pigeon Cooked Two Ways, using Chinese techniques to coat and fry the legs and breast meat smoked with straw and chargrilled over Japanese charcoal, is paired with black tea topped with rose, bay leaf, cinnamon, lemongrass, clove, and maqaw (Taiwan mountain pepper). Kawada also incorporates tea directly into his dishes, pouring ginger-flavoured pu-erh tea over dumplings, for example.