Black Tea
Black tea is, well, basic black... and so much more
What westerners call black tea is also known as red tea. The literal translation of the Chinese characters used to write "black tea", 紅茶, are "red" and "tea", and refer to the reddish color of the final brew. The leaves are completely oxidized (blackened) during the two- to four-week production process.
About black tea
Black tea is made in most places where Camellia sinensis - the tea plant - is grown commercially. It can be unflavored and sold as black tea, or it can be flavored with lychee, as in the Chinese Lychee Noir (which means black lychee tea) or bergamot, a fragrant herb, as in Earl Grey tea. Modern tea processors may also flavor black tea with other herbs, spices, fruits, and blossoms, including ginger, cinnamon, apricots, rose hips, and rose petals or oil. Click here for more information about flavored teas. Black tea is produced mostly in China and India.
Characteristics of black tea
Black tea tends to make a richly colored brew. Its body, strength (no matter how long you brew it), fragramce, and taste result from a variety of factors, including the type of bush (variety), when harvested, elevation of the tea plantation, and how much oxidation the leaves undergo during processing.
Although there are far too many wonderful black teas to mention them all here, we've described some representative ones below.
Types of Black Tea
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Assam
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Assam tea originated - not suprisingly - in the Assam region of India. It is made from a variant of the tea plant, Camellia sinensis var assamica, that was discovered growing in the wild during the first hal of the 19th century.
Grown at sea level, the tea is known for its bright color and for its distinctive malty flavor, it is prominent in breakfast teas such as English Breakfast. Irish Breakfast, and Scottish Breakfast teas.
The Assam region also produces more limited amounts of green and white teas.
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Ceylon
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Grown in Sri Lanka, known as Ceylon until 1972, this black tea with a citrus-like aroma is sold on its own and mixed with other teas in blends. On Sri Lanka, tea is grown at 2,500 feet above sea level or higher, and that produced in the Nuwara Eliya region at 6,000 feet or higher is regarded as the highest in quality. Other tea districts include Morawa Korale (to to 2,500 feet), Kandy (2,500 feet or higher), Uva (2,800 feet or higher) and Dambulla and Dikoya, both of which are cultivated at 3,500 feet or higher.
The teas themselves are known by the name of the district in which they were produced.
Sri Lanka also produces oolong, white and green tea.
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Darjeeling
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Darjeeling tea is cultivated in the Darjeeling district of West Bengal, India on the lower slopes of the Himalaya at an altitude of approximately 7,000 feet above sea level. The name means "Land of the Thunderbolt" in Tibetan. Some consider Darjeeling to be the connoisseur's black tea. Thin bodied, though it is, its distinctive floral, slightly musky, spicy aroma is unique among teas.
Although most Darjeeling teas are produced as black tea, the region is now producing and distributing some oolong and green teas as well.
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Keemun
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Keemun, or Qimen (from the Qimen province of China) red tea is full bodied with a rich, almost heavy - for a tea - fragrance. Some call it flowery, and we tigers can see that. We like it as is, but some think it is good with milk and sugar. Don't steep this one for too long unless you like a somewhat bitter taste.
Varieties of Keemun include Mao Feng, Xin Ya, and Hao Ya, which differ among themselves in leaf style (a processing factor),flavor, smoothness, and bitterness.
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Lapsang Souchong
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This fine tea originated in the Zheng Shan area of Mount Wuyi in China's Fujian province. Authentic lapsang souchong still comes from this region, though it is also produced in other areas. The tea itself is made by withering the leaves over pine or cedar fires, pan frying, rolling and oxidizing before finishing it by drying in bamboo baskets that are set over smoldering pine. I find this tea very smokey and woody and love it in the winter when I need a tea to warm me to my tigress bones.
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Nilgiri
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Nilgiri tea, the leaf from which orange pekoe tea is made, steeps to a dark, highly fragrant, and distinctly flavored tea. It is cultivated primarily in the Nilgiris district of Tamil Nadu in southern India.
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