The best tea and biscuit pairings

Is you favourite tea and biscuit combination in our top 10?

As a nation of tea and biscuit lovers, we thought we would do a little digging to see which biscuits and teas compliment each other best. Here's what we found...

1) English Breakfast Tea and Rich Tea/Digestives

The tea pairing of champions. I have to admit that this is my go-to tea and biscuit moment. As Breakfast Tea is the staple morning beverage of many British households, it’s no wonder it’s paired with the classic digestive.

Whether you enjoy your English Breakfast Tea black, or milky, the Rich Tea/Digestive is the perfect dunking partner. Although, we’d recommend a dash of milk, as the milk enhances the creaminess of the biscuit.

2) Earl Grey and Ginger Nut

The Ginger Nut biscuit is sure to snap back. Its powerful crunch gives you an instant hit of citrus, followed by the mouth-filling warmth of ginger.

This might surprise you, but in fact, Earl Grey is said to be the perfect partner thanks to the scents of Bergamot oil and citrus fruits in the tea.

3) Darjeeling black tea and Milk Chocolate Hobnob

This may not seem like the most likely of partnerships, but we’re convinced that it really works. Milk Chocolate Hobnobs are so popular because of their oaty goodness smothered in a layer of smooth milk chocolate – the mixture of grainy, smooth and sweet is a crowd pleaser.

The crisp, dark, muscatel flavourings of Darjeeling black tea is said to even out the sweetness of the milk chocolate. The tea cleanses the palate by cutting through the creamy chocolate taste, leaving a fresh taste in the mouth.

4) Oolong Tea and Custard Creams

Oolong Tea, sometimes referred to as “peach tea”, would fall somewhere on the scale between a white tea and a green tea. This traditional Chinese tea is also full of health benefits for you to enjoy, including the reduction of high cholesterol levels and inflammatory disorders.

The tea is also known as “Milk Oolong” because of its creamy, smooth taste. This pairs beautifully with the delicious creamy centre of a custard cream. The sweetness of the custard adds to the sweet, fragrant aftertaste of the tea, only enhancing your tea-break experience.

5) Chai and Lotus biscuit

Chai tea and lattes have risen in popularity over the past few years. The mixture of five spices within chai gives you a small insight into the wide variety and tastes of India, where it originated.

This tea, which can taste like sweet, spiced milk when drunk, is very popular around Christmas time, and this may be down to its cinnamon. To fully enhance the cinnamon goodness, we recommend pairing Chai with a Lotus biscuit. The biscuit is light and crisp, accentuating the spiced kick you will taste from the Chai, while the cinnamon gives the biscuit a distinctly continental taste. It’s a match made in heaven.

6) Rose Tea and Vanilla Viennese

You may have found that floral teas are difficult beverages to pair with anything, particularly rose and lavender teas as they have such a defined, sweet scent and taste.

However, if you’re a fan of the flowers, but wouldn’t want to miss out on a biscuit break, we recommend pairing Rose Tea with something light that will complement the floral notes. Something light and fluffy like a Viennese Whirl will do the trick, as the light flavour and texture of the vanilla whirl will not diminish the floral flavour of the tea, it will simply add a sweet note to the marriage of flavours.

7) Green Tea and Milk Chocolate Digestive

Green tea is known for its natural grassiness and crisp astringency which, when paired with a milk chocolate digestive, cuts through the sweet, creamy taste and texture of the biscuit.

The pairing works so well as the green tea cleanses the palate, shortening the creamy taste of the sweet chocolate, and leaves a fresher taste in the mouth. For best results always serve green tea without milk, and enjoy once the water has cooled.

8) Earl Grey and Lemon Shortbread

Here’s another delicious Early Grey pairing for you to enjoy.

Fun fact: the original mixture used by Earl Grey contained black China tea tinctured with citrus from the bergamot orange, a fruit native to Italy – Britain’s love affair with Earl Grey began in the 1800s.  

The citrus of the lemon pairs beautifully with the bergamot flavour and fragrance found naturally in the tea, and when you introduce the crumbly texture of a shortbread biscuit, with that added sweetness, you’re on to a tea-time winner.

9) Lemon Tea and Gingerbread

Lemon is a popular hot beverage pairing; we find it in hot water, green tea, fruit infusions, and also as a tea in its own right.

The sharp, almost bitter taste of the lemon tea is interchangeable and works well with many biscuits. We think the sharpness  works well with the hot, fragrant spice found in a gingerbread.

10) Ginger Tea and Chocolate Teacakes

OK, so this may be a little bit of a cheat, because teacakes aren’t exactly biscuits, but we had to add the pair to our round-up.

The zingyness of the ginger is a classic pairing with chocolate, so why not give ginger tea and teacakes a try? At least the bottom of the cake is biscuit-like...

What are you favourite tea and biscuit pairings? Let us know in the Comments section below.

Some recipes you might like:

Rachel Allen's chocolate marshmallow biscuit cake recipe

Ginger yoghurt scones with black cherry filling recipe

Miranda Gore Browne's iced lemon and poppy seed cakes recipe