Tea Tuesdays

Which black tea goes best with blue cheese? It turns out there is an art to unlocking new flavors in your food by pairing it with tea. And a whole new breed of experts has risen up to spread the word.

Smoky and floral brews can provide a kick of flavor to desserts, especially when blended with chocolate. Pastry chef Naomi Gallego shows us a few tricks for surprising the palate with tea.

It's easy to get overwhelmed by the English and their social tea traditions. What time does each of them take place, anyway? But don't fret. The Salt is here to offer guidance.

The ritual drinking of this ancient beverage — often thought of as the epitome of Japanese restraint and formality — has long been entwined with issues of power and national identity.

At least as early as Colonial times, Americans were drinking iced tea, though early alcohol-laden recipes had more in common with the cocktail from Long Island than the stuff sold by Lipton.

The British are very specific about how they take their tea: black, with milk and sugar. But steeping the optimal cup requires a surprising amount of chemistry. Here's a guide to the science.

Legend has it the moon gifted this drink to the Guaraní people of South America. It was banned by the colonial government. The Jesuits made it their most profitable crop. Oh, and the pope drinks it.

Kenya has spent 25 years developing a purple "supertea" with high levels of antioxidants. The hope is that the tea will appeal to health-minded consumers and revive the country's struggling industry.

In the mid-1800s, Britain was a global superpower with a big weakness for tea, all of which came from China. But a botanist with a talent for espionage helped Britain swipe the secrets of tea.

When tea met sugar, they formed a power couple that altered the course of history. It was a marriage shaped by fashion, health fads and global economics. And it doomed millions of Africans to slavery.