We’re used to seeing wine sommeliers at restaurants, floating with ease from one table to another, possessing an almost uncanny amount of knowledge about wine and making recommendations all night about the best pairings. It takes a special kind of love for a particular product to delve into it so deeply and to be able to balance the roles of server, educator and expert so deftly.
Lifestyle website iDiva has a terrific new interview with a sommelier of a different kind, Radhika Batra, a tea expert and an entrepreneur in Mumbai, India. Her one-of-a-kind tea shop focuses on offering the finest tea possible at an affordable price. It’s no wonder we feel a kinship with her even though she’s halfway around the world! Just like our own Chief Leaf and Top Infusionist, Tim Smith, Batra is a dedicated tea sommelier.
What’s a day in the life of a tea sommelier like in Mumbai? Batra spends a lot of her time sourcing teas from various countries all across the globe, a task that requires savvy business skills and a willingness to traverse remote tea trails. 80 percent of the teas in her catalogue are sampled and personally hand-selected by her. Now that’s some quality control we can really get behind!
From her boutique, or at corporate events, she also performs tea ceremonies in order to convert non-tea drinkers into aficionados and to share information about the health benefits of tea with anyone who is curious to learn more.
As for pairing tea with the right kind of food? She describes the art as a “culinary revolution,” and adds, “A great luncheon tea in my menu is Rose Petal which acts like a digestive thus paired post lunch. Similarly for the afternoon, I like to pair Oolong tea, which is a great energy booster and can be paired with any kind of food be it meats, casseroles or our desi khaana.”
Read more about Batra’s business and her tips for brewing the perfect cup of tea. You can also try out some of her suggestions by checking out the Tea Smith’s Rose Congou Black Tea or one of our many Oolongs.