How to serve baklava with tea so both taste right

A short guide to an unhurried afternoon: how to brew, cut and pace a small box of nut baklava, and what to do with the leftovers.

Start with the kettle, not the tin

Fill the kettle with only what you will drink. Use black tea, one bag or one teaspoon of loose leaf per cup, water just off the boil, steeped for three to four minutes. Leave it unsweetened. Baklava is phyllo, butter and syrup, so the sweetness is already on the plate, and a slightly bitter cup is what balances it.

Bring the baklava to the table

If the box lived in the fridge, take it out half an hour ahead. Cold firms the butter and stiffens the syrup, and the layers turn dull. At room temperature the phyllo shatters cleanly and the syrup loosens.

Look at the nuts before you cut. A mixed box of pistachio, walnut, hazelnut and cashew is not one flavor. Pistachio is mild and faintly floral. Walnut is tannic, which is why it suits tea. Hazelnut is rounder, and cashew is soft and buttery.

Use a small sharp knife and press down in one firm stroke. Sawing crushes the layers. Give each person one piece on a small plate, because the crumbs travel. A linen cloth folded over a knee or a chair arm catches the rest.

Pace it

Take a bite, then a sip, then wait a moment. The pastry is dense, so two pieces is already generous. Which nut to start with is a matter of taste, not a rule. Some people go from mild to strong, others the other way around.

Cover what is left loosely at room temperature, with an upturned bowl over a plate. Sealed tight, the pastry slowly softens as the syrup moves through it. Whether you like it crisp or soaked is your call, and on the second day it will be a little of both.