Japanese tea and sweets walk into a sake bar run by Marie Chiba

Not content with creating astonishing pairings like deep-fried gammon steaks stuffed with blue cheese and finished with a cup of doburoku as the (literal and metaphorical) sauce, pairing meister Marie Chiba is upping the ante while promoting local sake and sweets from Saga Prefecture.

If you have the chance to study with the Japan Sake and Shochu Makers Association Academy course you may be treated to Marie’s incredible approach to pairing, which prioritises interactions in the mouth as you eat and/or drink, and combines sake with elements you may never have considered – from olive oil and Italian herbs through to garam masala and sansho pepper.

Attendees at a Saga Prefecture sponsored event were in for an even bigger treat as Marie continued her exploration of pairing sake and tea–which she combines by brewing the tea in the sake–by adding a third element, namely well-known sweets from Saga.

Her pairings (triplings?) for the event were:

• Sake tea made by brewing Nakamura-en lemongrass sencha with Azuma Ichi (Gochoda Shuzo) junmai ginjo usu-nigori, served with Muraoka Sohonpo’s famous Siberia cake featuring five layers of yokan and their own red bean paste sandwiched between two blocks of castella sponge cake. The sweetness of the sake plays nicely with the grassy herbal notes and slight bitterness of the tea. A dash of extra virgin olive oil on the cake elevates the combination by boosting the citrussy notes in the lemongrass and mellowing the combined flavours.
• Sake tea made by brewing with red (black?) houji-cha with Koueigiku‘s tangy Hello! Omachi, served with Saga’s well-known dried persimmons stuffed with unsalted butter and sprinkled with rock salt. The salt brings the sweetness into focus and makes the pairing even better.
• Partially fermented houji-cha smoked with cedar wood, brewed with 16-year aged Amabuki Ten no Ibuki 2009BY, served with strawberry daifuku. The koshu is amber in colour with characteristic caramel aroma and fermented notes of pickled radish and shiitake mushroom. Smoking with cedar wood layers the partially fermented houji-cha with pleasant reduced aromas to produce something very original. And the sweetness of the strawberry daifuku somehow works with all the powerful elements in the sake tea–fermentation, smoke and ageing.

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Sources
酒や食を扱うプロのための「佐賀酒学」開講。日本酒界をけん引する講師陣が、佐賀酒の新しい楽しみ方を指南（1） (Dancyu, 24 Mar 2025, Japanese)
酒や食を扱うプロのための「佐賀酒学」開講。日本酒界をけん引する講師陣が、佐賀酒の新しい楽しみ方を指南（2） (Dancyu, 24 Mar 2025, Japanese)