Black Tea

By far the most popular variety of tea in the world, black tea is a fully “fermented” or oxidized. Black tea generally produces a red liquor (The Chinese refer to fully oxidized teas as red tea) with a sweet aroma, a bold slightly bitter and astringent flavor and relatively high caffeine content for tea. Black tea is produced in many countries and climates. Perennial favorites include single estate, blends and flavored varieties.

• Assam
• Ceylon
• Darjeeling
• Earl Grey
• English Breakfast
• Irish Breakfast
• Keemun (Qimen)
• Nilgiri
• Pu-Er
• Russian Caravan
• Yunnan (Dianhong)

To produce black tea freshly harvested tea leaves are allowed to wither until enough moisture evaporates for the leaves to become limp. Then the withered leaves are rolled exposing the leaves’ juices to the air. The leaves are allowed to fully oxidize before being fired. This process is significantly more complex than the production of green tea. The Chinese describe these extra steps necessary to produce black tea as kung-fu (skill and effort). The extra processing has the added benefit of preserving the tea, extending its shelf life if it is stored properly.