Tea Time with Executive Chef Louis Simard of the Fairmont Château Laurier

Now, there’s no holding him back when he starts talking tea and food.

Black tea, such as lapsang souchong, makes a great rub for steak and oven-roasted chicken, he says. Dried over wood, the tea gives the meat an enticing smoky flavour, as though it’s been cooked over charcoal. Matcha green tea dresses up pasta alfredo, while trendy rooibos is a must when you’re making stock for rice and other grains.

There are also dessert applications, says Simard, including syrups, as well as summer-y popsicle treats for youngsters. Tea is even used in cocktails at the Château.

One trick to using a tea infusion in cooking is to make it strong, says Simard. That usually means using half the water you’d normally add and letting it steep twice as long.

“I smell it and I want to go start a bunch of cooking,” Simard says.

Reassuring to many of us, he adds that you needn’t be born with an ultra-sensitive palate to be able to differentiate and appreciate teas. Like wine, it’s actually a matter of practice until you’ve trained your brain to recognize what’s what.

Unlike wine, however, tea has “a passing flavour. When you drink tea, after a minute, you don’t taste it anymore; it’s ephemeral. That’s why when you drink tea, you want a whole pot to have that taste again.”

Simard, who disdains most commercial teas as the “dust” that’s left when good-quality tea leaves are processed, isn’t the only tea sommelier at the Château. There are three others and part of their job is to ensure servers at Zoe’s — home to the hotel’s popular afternoon tea with its scones, homemade jams and multigenerational guests — have the scoop on tea. With a list of 21 teas, everything from Mojo Mate, a robust green tea with a spearmint finish, to Ontario Icewine, a white tea with Riesling and berry notes, that knowledge is critical to helping guests choose the right tea for the right food, whether it’s during those afternoon get-togethers or at other times.

Oolong, for instance, pairs well with cheeses and desserts whereas a black tea would go well with red meats and pastas.

One of the things the tea sommeliers teach Château servers is the fine art of questioning. If you take sugar in your coffee, then you’re better choosing a green tea. If you like decaf coffee, there’s a tea equivalent.

There’s also ritual involved for those folks who show up for afternoon tea — some of them wearing fascinators — which has been a staple at the hotel since it opened in the early 1900s. For example, tea is brewed at the table using a timer to get it just right, Simard says.

“To enjoy tea, you don’t take it in a to-go cup and walk around,” he says. “That’s the role of coffee. [Tea is] meant for sitting down and enjoying it, having a conversation, reading a book, reflecting. It has that Zen about it.”

Jessica Hughes gets the differences between coffee and tea. She owns the online Queen of Tea shop and co-founded the Ottawa Tea Guild to connect enthusiasts, promote tea shops and spread the word about the beverage. She is also a certified tea sommelier with the Tea and Herbal Association of Canada.

Tea has become popular in part because “it’s been instrumental in broadening community engagement and even family time — tea with your grandparents or just bringing people together. People are more open to having those kinds of [personal] conversations over a cup of tea than a cup of coffee.”

She says that popularity has translated into a proliferation of online tea shops, afternoon teas and tea-tasting events. Coffee shops in larger cities are opening up their own tea rooms and there are now career opportunities for tea sommeliers with hotels and high-end restaurants.