A slow evening across two traditions
We gather on a warm August evening in the 11th arrondissement, where a single long table bridges the indoors with the canal-side terrace. The night is not a lecture — it is a conversation between two drinks shaped by soil, microbe, and hand.
Mei Yang, Senior Tea Expert for Oolong and Black Tea varieties, opens with a chilled welcome infusion: a cold-brewed Mí Lán Xiāng (蜜兰香), the honey-orchid fragrance Dancong from Phoenix Mountain in Guangdong. Its floral clarity sits alongside a pet-nat Chenin Blanc, and the first parallels appear — both show high-altitude brightness and a whiff of stone fruit. Guests receive a tasting journal and an aroma wheel designed by tea.restaurant’s pairing library, encouraging notes rather than scores.
As the light shifts, the table moves to a pair of structured tannins. A 2021 Zhèng Shān Xiǎo Zhǒng (正山小种) — the unsmoked, wild-grown Lapsang from Tongmu village — meets a light extraction Gamay from Beaujolais. The tea’s longan sweetness and the wine’s crushed raspberry share a spine of gentle grip, while the conversation turns to the role of oxidation and whole-cluster fermentation. A small plate of duck rillettes and pickled daikon bridges the two liquids.
The third pairing steps deeper into fermentation itself. Mei Yang presents a 2018 Shēng Pǔ’ěr (生普洱) from Yunnan’s Bulang Mountain, aged in a dry Hong Kong warehouse, set alongside a natural orange wine from Alsace. Both carry a deliberate funk — mushroom, dried apricot, a trace of camphor — and the pairing works like an overlapping Venn diagram. Guests are invited to taste the tea plain, then the wine, then alternate, and finally to sip the two together through a mouthful of roasted beet with sesame.
A plated cheese course follows with a roasted Wuyi oolong, Dà Hóng Páo (大红袍), whose mineral finish echoes the flinty reduction in a Loire Chenin. Then a dessert of jasmine-poached pear arrives with a cold-infused Jūn Shān Yín Zhēn (君山银针), a yellow tea whose faint chestnut sweetness lifts the fruit without competing.
We close with a small cupping of a 2008 Liù Bǎo (六堡) — a fermented dark tea from Guangxi — passed alongside a rancio sec from Roussillon. No tasting notes are given; silence is encouraged. After the last pour, Mei Yang offers a short word on how to host a tea-and-wine evening at home, and every guest leaves with a 10g sample of each featured tea and a discount for tea.community’s monthly tastings. The dinner does not preach that tea and wine are alike — it simply lets them share a table and trusts the palate to listen.
What you get
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Welcome chilled tea infusions and a glass of natural sparkling
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Guided four-course progressive pairing with five teas and five wines
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Tasting journal with detailed notes on every tea, region, and producer
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Aroma wheel and comparative chart covering tannin, acidity, and texture
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10g sample of each featured tea to brew at home
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Private discount for tea.community’s monthly tasting club
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Access to tea.school’s ‘Fundamentals of beverage pairing’ mini-course
Practical details
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Location — Private dining room with canal-side terrace, Paris 11e — exact address shared after booking
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Arrival time — 19:00 for welcome drinks; seated by 19:30
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Dress code — Smart casual — the terrace is open but covered
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Food & dietary needs — Seasonal menu blending French and Chinese technique; vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free options available on request
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Accessibility — Ground-floor venue with step-free access and accessible restroom
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Language — English and French; Mei Yang speaks both fluently
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Weather — Dinner moves indoors if rain; the terrace is used only in fine conditions