Happy first day of fall, tea lovers! How are you celebrating this wonderful season? I can’t say it looks or feels like fall here in LA (yet?), but I can celebrate nonetheless, right? Luckily, I have some tea-infused recipes up my sleeve. Right this way for some cozy tea goodness.

Ochazuke

Cooler weather is a great excuse to enjoy more hot tea (in case you needed an excuse) and comfort food. Ochazuke, a Japanese green tea and rice soup, is the epitome of comfort food (but healthy). Usually, genmaicha and hojicha are the teas of choice but sencha and matcha can also be used. I really enjoy the crispiness of the rice patties and the slight astringency of the tea, to which you may or may not want to add soy sauce. Either way, the final result is simply addictive.

Korean steamed eggs with puerh tea and miso

I love infusing tea in savory dishes and the flavor combination of ripe puerh and mushrooms is a no-brainer. Earthy, woodsy and deep, bold, savory notes work perfectly together. Does this remind you of fall? I love the combination of puerh tea, mushrooms and miso and you’ll love it too if you like umami, deeply savory flavors. A similar savory egg custard dish is popular in Japan too and actually, the first time I had it was at a Japanese restaurant (topped with crab, yum!). It’s called Chawanmushi. I haven’t seen tea used in traditional recipes like these but you know me, I like to play around and experiment with flavor and it works incredibly well!

Smoky tea cocktail

Smoky and earthy flavors are the embodiment of fall, which is why I’ve created a tea based cocktail that brings all those notes together. Smoky cocktails usually include Mezcal, a Mexican agave-based liquor, similar to Tequila, but I’m using something different. I had a card up my sleeve, a smoked tea vanilla syrup and a smoky tea, so I guess that makes it 2 cards up my sleeve. The tea I used is Tian Jian, a puerh-style tea (heicha) from Hunan, China, picked in the spring and smoked over pine wood. Guess what I used to make this cocktail pop with color!

Gourmet Hojicha S'mores

Last but not least, dessert! Hojicha is a heavily roasted Japanese green tea. At a first glance, you might think it’s black tea because it’s dark and deep. With flavor notes of fire-roasted chestnuts and caramel, hojicha is perfect for fall. I made hojicha marshmallows and Graham Crackers from scratch and assembled with high quality dark chocolate for the ultimate tea- infused treat to enjoy fireside!

What are your favorite tea-infused recipes for fall? Let me know in the comments!