Serving Tea at 30,000 Feet
There are so many synergies between Cathay Pacific and JING tea - from design inspiration to appreciation of the quiet, understated simplicity and beauty of the best of Asian hospitality. The tea experience that we share with the world is as delicious as it is uplifting to the spirit, similar to the experience of travelling on Asia's favourite airline.
We worked closely with the team at Cathay to create a collection of Asia’s greatest teas and herbal infusions. Sourced first-hand from the finest gardens across China, Japan, India and Sri Lanka, these teas give you a true taste of their origin.
Every year is a new opportunity for us to discover great teas that reflect the character of their origin and the skill of the masters who produce them. We share this joy of discovery with our customer every year and every harvest, helping them to explore the amazing world of tea.
Selecting the Teas:
We created a tea menu for Business Class reflecting the origins of some of our best teas and popular Cathay flight destinations. We also wanted to have variety of tea types to cater for the variety of taste preferences of passengers. Our main struggle was in perfecting the recipes when water at altitude boils at 79-89 degrees instead of the normal 100 degrees recommended for black teas.
Ceylon Breakfast
From Sri Lanka, we had our new Ceylon Breakfast tea and our scented Early Grey tea. These teas are classic teas popular to European palates.
Jasmine Silver Needle
Then from China, comes our popular scented white tea Jasmine Silver Needle. This is a fresh uplifting classic ideal to be enjoyed throughout the day, ideal for a long haul flight.
Japanese Sencha
Next on the menu was Japanese Sencha, a sweet grassy green tea. Given that umami is the only sense of taste not affected by high altitude, this was an obvious choice.
Traditional Iron Buddha
Taiwanese Iron Buddha finished off our business class tea menu with rich and complex character to tantalise passenger taste buds.
Chamomile Flowers
2 Herbal teas were included: chamomile to help passengers relax and peppermint which worked as a digestif after their meal.
