Tea with bread

I wonder if, beyond synesthesias, evoked feelings and just plain good combinations, it might be partly due to amino acids and sugars from the bread enhancing the tea, and proteins or whatever binding astringent elements? Breads of many kinds really go seem to go well with tea of many kinds. Alas, I have yet to find a tea to accompany pretzels (which I shouldn't eat anyway). Any recommendations?

-DM

Beer. Toci

And not just any beer, but a good beer! It is the difference between a Lipton bag floundering in lukewarm water and a perfectly brewed hand- produced tea. My current list:

Paulaner Heffe Weizen Omegang Hennepin Allagash White Founders Blushing Monk Mill St. Coffee Porter Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald Troeg's Hopback, Pale Ale, or Rugged Trail or even just a Guinness

Cheers!

- Dominic

In what part of the world do you get those beers? I don't recognise a single one of them.

Lars Stockholm

Except for Paulaner (from Germany) and the Mill St (from Canada), they're American specialty beers:

Belgian saison style from Cooperstown, New York

Belgian wit style from Portland, Maine

sour raspberry ale from Michigan

from Cleveland, Ohio (yay!)

from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

N.

Oh dear, Dominic. "Just" a Guinness? "Just" nectar of the gods? "Just" the sweet morning dew off of the shamrocks...? Ok now I'm waxing poetic ::teary eye:::

;)

Melinda

Wow, you did a better job of that than I could of. Hats off to ya, and I owe you a pint. That summed them all up perfectly.

I grew up with parents and friends who are serious beer drinkers, not serious in quantity, but quality. I had my first taste of Guiness foam from my fathers finger when I was 2 or 3 and just about the only kid I could imagine who was into it! :) Guinness is good, and don't get me wrong I'll happily drink it when it is the best of what's available, but once you've had some amazing and complex ones it is harder to put on a pedestal.

Basically, I go for German, Belgium, Czech, and Canadian and American craft beers. And even though it is a tea forum, I'd be happy to hear of some favorites from Lars, Natarajan, or anyone else who;d like to share a short list... that's how I find many of my now favorites.

- Dominic

/oh, and a Lindeman's Frambois (raspberry beer) is a great dessert

My favorites the last several years would be "Bohemian", a Czech beer, that have not been able to find lately, and "Leffe" from Belgium.

Much to my surprise I have also found several very good beers from America. Samuel Adams is one that comes to mind. When I have been "over there" I have had mostly real crappy beer. Bud, Schlitz etc.

I am also quite fond of "Kingfisher", from India, and "Nils Oscar India Ale" wich is a Swedish take on Indian beer.

Lars Stockholm