Pot Perfect: Great taste down to a tea

I have long suspected it is the tea drinker's lot to nurse sugared dishwater whenever we go out with coffee-drinking friends.

But the opening of The Dutch in Umhlanga in November heralds a change in tea-leaf fortunes. The upmarket drinking hole in Durban's "Sandton-on-sea" is home to high-end liquor, spiffy waiters and 1960s music.

The food is exotic. Think Chinese five spice-seared salmon, Dutch croquettes and Magic Mushrooms - tempura Asian mushrooms with miso tartar. It also offers a small but adventurous tea selection assembled by chef Clifford Barrett.

The Dutch has a range of teas in the green, red, herbal and black varieties, with a spectrum of flavours. Barrett wants to avoid intimidating customers with a complex list so he has limited himself to six teas. "Tea is a wonderful beverage that offers as much as any other product when it comes to variety and varying degrees of quality," he says.

One of the teas, Imperial Lapsang Souchong, was a lucky find. '' I started finalising the beverage menu when, out of the blue, Ieva Tomase from Cape Town's The Tea Chest gave me a call wanting to drop off samples."

Barrett responded with a challenge: "Give me Lapsang Souchong, a smoky black tea I used to drink in my training days as a chef in 2002."

Tomase succeeded and Barrett was then interested in putting his teas on the menu.

Luck of the pour

Imperial Lapsang Souchong

Barrett says: It's my first love when it comes to exotic teas - smoky aromas and savoury flavours.

Photographer Jackie Clausen says: This one is just not my thing - it's like drinking tea while smoking a cigarette. Whisky drinkers would love it.

Vanilla Bourbon

Barrett says: South African rooibos tea blended with quality vanilla which is evident in both aroma and flavour.

I say: My favourite - and the easiest to drink sugarless.

Moroccan Mint

Barrett says: A grand, classic tea blended with Sahara mint.

Clausen says: The first sip is a shock because the mint is so strong. A great pick-me-up after a long day or in the morning.

Emperor Sencha Green Tea

Barrett says: Very refreshing and high in Vitamin C.

I say: Bland at first but gets mildly more interesting as your tongue picks up a slight bitterness.