Description
Created by husband and wife team, Charlie and Natalie Winkworth-Smith, Saicho was born out of a personal desire to create a non-alcoholic drink that could pair well with food. Hailing originally from Hong Kong, Natalie can't drink alcohol, and turns as red as a tomato with even the smallest sip, so she always missed being able to fully enjoy the experience of food and wine pairing.
As a solution, Charlie and Natalie turned to tea with its rich history and wide variety of flavours, from floral to fruity, nutty to smoky, influenced by its terroir and processing methods. After two years of testing hundreds of different teas from around the globe, they chose their first three teas; carefully selected to pair well with food.
Hojicha Sparkling Tea
Originating in Kyoto in the 1920s as a way of utilising leftover leaves, stems, stalks and twigs, Hojicha is a roasted green tea from Japan. The tea has a deep umami character and notes of nori seaweed, roasted hazelnut and delicate smoke, with dry and woody tannins.
Top tip: Pairs well with sushi and mushroom risotto
This tea is grown at an altitude of approximately 200m in Shizuoka Prefecture, the largest tea producing area in Japan, where more than 40% of the country’s tea is grown. The mild climate and diverse terrain make it ideal for tea cultivation. This Hojicha is made by roasting second flush Sencha green tea, a process which changes the colour to a deep reddish brown and produces a toasty, nutty flavour.
Jasmine Sparkling Tea
Scented with jasmine blossoms, this green tea from Fuding, in Fujian province, China, has a delicate floral aroma and notes of apple sherbet, lychee and vanilla, making it a refreshing aperitif.
Top tip: Pairs well with Asian spicy salad and elderflower / osmanthus jellies
This green tea is grown in the mountains of Fuding in Fujian province, China at an altitude of approximately 500m. The tea leaves (Fuding Big White Leaf cultivar) are harvested by hand in early spring, dried and stored until the summer when the jasmine flowers are in bloom. The flowers are picked at midday when they are tightly closed against the sun. The blossoms are laid on top of the tea leaves and as they dry and cool, the flowers open, releasing their fragrant scent onto the highly absorbent tea leaves. The flowers are then removed by hand in the morning. The tea is blended with new jasmine flowers over several nights until the aroma is perfectly balanced. Finally, the tea is dried to remove any moisture from the tea leaves.
Darjeeling Sparkling Tea
Harvested in the summer to develop its unique Darjeeling muscatel flavour, the tea has notes of mandarin, ginger, and wood spice and gentle, dry tannins.
Top tip: This drink was so food friendly. It worked well with charcuterie, it was lovely with chicken tagine, it also tasted great with lasagne. Chocolate too, enhancing it's malty flavor
Darjeeling is a town situated on the slopes of the Himalayas and has some of the highest tea gardens in the world. At almost 2,000 metres above sea level, the tea leaves grow more slowly which, along with the region’s loamy soil and pure mountain air, develops a unique muscatel flavour, redolent of muscat grapes.Darjeeling is often referred to as the “Champagne of teas” due to its deep fruity and floral flavour. There are four periods of cultivation (or flushes) every year, which each have unique characteristics. This particular tea is hand-picked in the summer when the muscatel flavour is at its most pronounced.
