What makes a good dessert for tea? What makes a good dessert tea? These questions and more brought me to this article on desserts and tea.
One would think the pallet of an individual creates the best tea desserts. While we may be partially right. There is a history to both tea desserts and dessert teas.
Let’s have some sweet tea fun today and get to know some tea desserts and dessert teas.
Dessert History
The history of desserts with tea has a long history. One that dates back to early settlers times. If we want to include the partaking of sugar before drinking an earthy, green or bitter tea. We can go back centuries.
I had a friend who was in the military and he shared with me a story of drinking tea with a local farmer. Sugar, as well as a lot of items are rare. Sugar was one of them. My friend said no to the sugar cube and it was an instant insult. They offered him something of value and for him to reject it was an insult. So, yes the sugar cube went into his mouth and as instructed he put it between his back teeth. The tea was served and he was very thankful for that sugar cube. The tea was very strong, and black. The sugar cube mellowed the bitterness of the tea and gave him a memory to last and share a lot longer.
After doing some research I found that Soviet Russia would do the same as my military friends host. Biting on a piece of sugar while drinking tea. The history of this goes back. Back to making the tea a higher calorie beverage, something that was needed during the past.
Sugar was considered a delicacy. A commodity that was rare. Adding sugar to a tea was held by those in the upper class. There is an entire history of sugar you should read. In fact, reading the history you can see how something as simple as sugar could change the world.
Now from here on I’m using deductive reasoning. I figure that as time went on, the fame of sugar became something more moderate and everyday use. During this time every household had sugar. Instead of biting on a sugar cube, a dessert became the added sugar to the cup of tea.
The first dessert
The first dessert recorded is not so much a dessert as we know it but recorded to be Ashure or Noah’s Pudding. It is the oldest dessert in the world. First thought to have been made by (you guessed it) Noah. It was a mix of beans, grains, fruits and nuts.
Sweets were also fed to the gods in ancient times. Dried fruit and honey are the suspected desserts.
The 17th century
The 17th century was when the first cookbook was found. The separate section for sweets was evident. The word dessert actually comes from the word desservir. The word desservir means “to clear the table”. It became a “thing” to have something sweet to eat after the main course. Dessert was born!
The most popular dessert
The most popular dessert is a sticky toffee pudding. It’s a British dessert. It’s a dense cake, like pudding topped with a warm toffee sauce. This dessert has been found all over the world.
Dessert capital of the world
Paris. Some of the greatest desserts are from Paris, France. Those include but not limited to:
- Macaroons
- Petit-fours
- Creme Brûlée (my favorite)
- Eclairs
- Tarts
Let’s review some of the most popular and famous tea desserts
Cake – Cakes are bread like desserts made with sugar and special flours. Some are dense while others are light, airy and spongy. Cakes are sometimes served at a celebration or party. Cakes can be solid or filled with fruit, sauces or creams. The outside can be simple icing or decorated with designs made of icing or fruits. Some popular cakes are:
Cupcakes – The earliest description of what is now often called a cupcake was in 1796. It’s mentioned in a recipe for a light cake to back in small cups. The first cupcakes were baked in ceramic pots similar to ramekins. This is where the name CUP cake came from. The other cupcakes were baked in tins or cups. Cupcakes are generally made of a cake batter in a small paper or tin wrapper. These cakes are then decorated with icing and decorations. Like an individual and personalized cake. English cupcakes are generally smaller and no toppings.
Petit Fours – French for small oven. In the 18th and 19th centuries the ovens took a while to heat up. When they were cooling down the ovens were used to make petit fours. Petit fours are small desserts that are a cross between cake and candy. Petit fours come in three varieties: Glazed, Salted and Dry.
Puddings – There are two types of puddings. One is sweet, the other is savory. These puddings are the sweet ones. Puddings are rich, starchy or dairy based. In the United States pudding is a sweet milk based dessert. It can include: Custards, Mousse or Puddings. They can be made instant or homemade.
Pastries – Not quite a cake, but not a cookie. A pastry lies between with plenty of options. Pastries or patisserie in French are made with a dough of flour, water and shortening. They could be both savory or sweet. They cover a variety of sweets. Tarts, quiches, croissants. While a pastry may seem like a bread, it has a higher fat content. A pastry is also flaky and crumbly.
Madeleines – A french pastry first mentioned in 1758. . A small spongy cake with a specific shell-like shape. The shape of madeleines come from a specific shell shaped tray. The flavor is lighter than a sponge cake and may include very finely ground nuts. There are some that include the zest of a lemon. British people may coat them with jam or glaze. Madeleines have a history and several stories surrounding their creation.
Pie – Early pies (1304-1327) formed and flat called galettes. The crust was oats, wheats, rye or barley with honey inside. You can even see pies represented on Ramesses II tomb walls. Prior pies were made of fish or meat. Today pies contain fruits and berries. Pies are enjoyed by themselves or with a scoop of ice cream and called pie a la mode. The most favorite pie is apple.
Cookies – Anytime I talk about cookies I remember being a wedding photographer. There is nothing like the amount of cookies that show up at a Pennsylvania wedding. It’s actually an insult not to take some home. Cookies baked, small, flat and sweet. Held in your hand and enjoyed plain or with raisins, oats, chocolate and/ or nuts. Americans call them cookies, English speaking countries call them biscuits.
Biscuits – Another term that means a different thing across the pond. Americans consider a biscuit as a light and flaky and flour based bread. Across the pond a biscuit is more of a cookie. A shaped and hard cookie used to be enjoyed with your beverage. That beverage should be tea :-).
Muffins – A muffin is like a cupcake in looks alone. After looks is where it changes. Muffins are not generally topped with anything and are rarely sweet. Muffins can be plain or baked with fruits and or nuts. A new creation is just creating the muffin tops. The top of the muffin is a bit more savory and sometimes baked with additional butter on top.
Fruits – Fruits are enjoyed with tea as whole fruits or in a smashed up version. Fruits can be used to create: preserves, jams, spreads, clotted cream or lemon curd. While the fruit “sauces” are not used with tea singularly. They are enjoyed on different pastries. Spreading a jam or preserves on a biscuit (American) and enjoying your tea. Amazing! All these fruit spreads are enjoyed on other desserts and enjoyed with your cup of tea.
Mochi – When talking about tea we can never pass over the japanese dessert mochi. I first fell in love with moochi in downtown New York city. I’ve tried to find the same thing in town but no luck. Mochi has taken a foothold lately. Popping up as a frozen dessert. Mochi is a cake made from rice, water, sugar and cornstarch. Mochi is semi sweet with a sticky texture. The dough is pounded and shaped. Enjoy New Years and all year long.
Dessert Teas
I can’t do an article on tea desserts without flipping it around and talking about tea desserts.
Becoming so popular you can find Tazo teas on TIK TOK doing little video’s on their dessert teas.
Dessert teas, a good tea dessert tea will surprise you with the first sip. A dessert tea will have a fun name. A name after the taste. A good dessert tea will taste like the dessert tea. Lemon Pound Cake should taste like a lemon pound cake, not a lemon flavored tea. How do they do it? Tons of recipes and tasters until they come up with that amazing taste, just for you. Unfortunately, these teas can contain a lot of sugar.
One good thing, they don’t contain as much sugar and fat as the real dessert. So skip the dessert and pour yourself a cup of warm dessert tea.
Doing a search online will bring you to pages and pages of companies selling their own dessert teas. I thought I would help you out and create a short list of dessert teas just for you to try and enjoy.
Conclusion
I have to tell you that as I was researching this article I was on day three of a fast. What got me most. Biscuits. I had a hard time completing my timeline to bring this to you. I need to grab a cup of dessert tea. It’s amazing the power of the mind. Day three went swell until biscuits.
No matter how you “slice” it the best tea dessert is the one you are having with your tea at any given time. My favorite tea dessert would be a creme brulee or cookies, assorted. What’s your favorite tea dessert and have you found a dessert tea to compliment it?
What about those dessert teas, Lisa…..
The internet is raving about Tazo’s Glazed Lemon Loaf Tea. No sweetener and the taste is amazing and so close to a lemon loaf it’s incredible. The one downfall to this writer is the “natural flavors” never a fan but I am very sure it’s how it gets its Lemon Loaf flavor.
Harney and Sons has an interesting tea that’s called Chocolate Mint. This tea will amaze as it smells just like chocolate. It should, it has natural chocolate in it. The taste is like that of a peppermint chocolate candy and will please. I love that Harney and Sons shares with us their flavoring of vanilla. Thank you for that. No guessing what is in your tea here.
Next up is David’s Jasmine Creme Brul’ee tea. My favorite dessert is Creme Brulee. David’s tea uses a mix of sweet blackberries and pineapple sugars to make this sweet tea. It also includes some natural and artificial flavors.
You may want to try Red Rose Strawberry Shortcake tea. Sweetened with stevia and containing some fun fruits and yes, natural flavors. This tea comes in at zero calories. It’s a great way to get that sweet taste you crave without all the calories.
