Yvette is the personification of the epitome of a passion for tea, and suffice to say: my soul sister (who knows a lot moe about tea than I do)! She loves tea so much, in fact, that if she identifies you as someone with shared interests, chances are that you’ll get an invitation to her place to indulge in an Yv et té Teas tasting quite unlike any other in Dubai. I landed myself one of these coveted golden tickets.

I first came across Yv et té Teas Instagram page (@yvetteteas) by complete coincidence over a year ago, when she generously invited me to her place to sample some of her impressive tea collection. It’s such a shame it took me that long to finally make it over to her place, but hey, better late than never!

We first met when I attended her matcha class at 1004 Gourmet, and we instantly clicked. Yvette’s husband Fran is one of the most supportive husbands I’ve met, and an absolute blast to hang out with. They are parents to 3 of the sassiest, fattest and most gorgeous cats in all of JBR.

I was welcomed to her place a couple of weeks ago by Pocco Rosso playing in the background and an absolutely tealightful feast of snacks to get me warmed up for an afternoon turned evening of tea tasting, served on the most picturesque blue, white and chinoiserie tableware that further confirmed I can blindly trust this lady with my tea and my teaware shopping and sourcing. It’s not a good idea to have a lot of tea on an empty stomach, and Yvette made sure I was well fed!

As soon as I stepped in, I first quenched my Dubai-summer-induced thirst with a variety of cold brews. From Silverneedle with lemongrass and kaffir lime leaves, through butterfly pea flower tea with pineapple and orange peels, to hibiscus with dried blueberries and orange sections, Yvette is most certainly the hostess with the mostess. The matcha in coconut water was but of course one of my favorites.

Some of the creative and moreish snacks I sampled that day were:

• Candied plans with smoked Lapsang Suchong
• Parmesan and herb bread sticks with a garlic and green tea yogurt dip
• Lahpet Thoke (Burmese green tea leaf salad)
• Tea-dusted, dehydrated apple crisps
• The most luxurious matcha coconut milk latte tiramisu, which inspired me to try my own matcha tres leches cake recipe (details on this to follow)!
• Chocolate and jujube, and butterfly pea flower amaretti cookies
• Pickled red plums
• Jujube dates

Yv et té Teas personally go to Japan, Taiwan and China every year during harvest season, and not only can you count on them for the freshest, more exquisite pure teas (I am in LOVE with their Taiwanese Milk Oolong from Alishan), they are the only company in Dubai which I know of to supply butterfly pea flower tea powder. It’s a strong and potent natural source of blue and purple food coloring, which I absolutely fell in love with in Bangkok and love using both for its health benefits and visual appeal.

Some of the things I love about Yvette is what Yv et té Teas stands for as a brand are:

1. Promoting a healthier, more wholesome lifestyle with creative ways to consume teas. I know it sounds cliche at this point, but she means it and does it right. No keto, no bullshit, but just 99 ways to consume the goodness of teas, from brewing them right to incorporating them into your desserts, water infusions, marinades, all the way to using the used up leaves for salads and dressings. One of my favorite salads ever, in fact, is the Burmese Lahpet Thoke (fermented green tea leaf salad, which you can read about here in one of my earliest blog posts)!
2. She promotes transparency and truly educates you and enables you to look for the right things, ask the right questions and get the best value for your money, especially when it comes to white teas and green teas.
3. There’s no judgement. everyone has their own tastes, preferences and means. While I personally prefer to let tea freely swim around while it’s steeping, if teabags are what you prefer due to convenience or any other reason, you do you.

The most valuable lessons I took away from our afternoon together:

On steeping:

• It’s important to rinse the leaves for 5-10 seconds before you steep your teas in order to ‘awaken’ them, as it’s the equivalent of stretching before exercising, and is especially useful for the bigger leaves of most Chinese and Taiwanese teas.
• The only teas one should avoid rinsing are Japanese teas as they are more ‘microneedles’
• It’s recommended to decant the steeped tea into another little teapot or container wit a spout for two reasons: 1. to prevent the tea from over-steeping and 2. to ensure that it’s evenly mixed before being divided amongst and poured into a number of cups
• You can steep your tea ‘Western’ style, or ‘Chinese’ style. The former means you put less leaves and leave them in for longer and the latter means you put in more leaves, but steep for a shorter time, and for a higher number of total steeps

On Tea Quality: 

• The source and origin or the tea, as well as it’s harvest date is something to boast. If your tea purveyor isn’t talking about that, there’s something wrong.
• Choose organic teas. A lot of mass-produced or big label blends have perfumes and/or oils added to them to make more fragrant. Given an option, pick an organic tea or blend
• The more clear your tea is, the more premium and full-bodied the leaves are
• White teas are best enjoyed the fresher they are and the spring harvests are the most premium ones
• White teas are the least processed and the highest in antioxidants, second only to matcha. They’re plucked and withered, not steamed (unlike green teas). Steaming is done to teas that are grown in sunnier areas, and helps break down the fibers and bitterness
• The colors of the leaves themselves are the first indicator of the quality of green and white teas. The more vibrant, the better
• Younger teas can be felt more on the upper palate, and is almost dry. tasting when you press your tongue to the roof of your mouth

On Harvests: 

• The date of picking is of utmost importance
• Spring harvests are often the best as there are less bugs and less need for pesticides, as opposed to the summer
• higher altitudes also have lesser bugs and pesticides
• The higher leaves are more delicate and premium. Ceremonial matcha is always made with the top most leaves, as the leaves become tougher and more bitter as you move down the stem
• Hojicha is harvested in the summer and made from one of the lower and biggest leaves, which is why it needs be roasted more. It came into existence by roasting the stems and was the ‘poor man’s tea’, as it was made from the unwanted leftovers

Other Fun Facts I’d like to share with my readers:

• Each type of tea has a different brewing time and ideal brewing temperature. Japanese teas often require the most precision and Oolongs are some of the most forgiving when it comes to over-steeping
• You can steep tea leaves for a number of times. In my experience, the 3rd and 4th steeps are my favorite. Some teas only yield up to 5 brews, whereas some like Puerh can go over a dozen brews
• Cold brews are when you add tea leaves to room temperature water and refrigerate over night. Iced teas are when you make regular tea and dilute it with chilled water and ice

If you’d like to order some truly luxurious teas to treat yourself with when you come home after a long day at work without paying an arm and a leg, get in touch with Yv et té Teas. I highly recommend it. They’re not selling yet, but they’re coming very soon and need to get on your radar!