Shut your eyes and consider tea, and except you are of East Asian descent, chances are high the very first thing that involves thoughts is a brew that appears just like the picture above. Certain, inexperienced tea could also be prime canine in China, Japan, and Korea, however over within the West, black tea is the clear winner. From the US to the UK to Russia to Turkey, black tea is not simply the most well-liked selection of tea; it successfully is tea.

Sadly, most of that tea is not excellent: overly bitter and tannic but curiously bland. No surprise most Individuals deal with tea as a low-octane also-ran to espresso, and it is no shock most of us stir in a great deal of lemon, milk, or honey to make it style like one thing.

That is a disgrace, as a result of nice black tea is loads just like the intersection of two drinks Westerners love: high quality espresso and good purple wine. Stimulating but lush with hints of ripe fruit, chocolate, nuts, and citrus, mellow and candy however charged with a tongue-tingling efficiency, top-notch black tea is greater than value your consideration.

The trick is getting the appropriate leaves and brewing them with care. Here is a short introduction to upping your black tea recreation.

Making the Grade

Irrespective of the place and the way a black tea is grown, it is all processed the identical approach: withering and bruising recent leaves to encourage oxidation, then drying. This oxidation begins the second a tea leaf is plucked off the bush, and the enzymatic exercise is chargeable for increase black tea’s wealthy shade, plush physique, fruity sweetness, and tannic complexity.

So what makes one black tea completely different from one other? A part of the reply is regional variations in terroir and cultivation, however the single largest issue is a tea’s grade. Usually talking, tiny damaged leaves = decrease grades = a rough, blustery brew, whereas bigger unbroken leaves = increased grades = a extra delicate, nuanced, and sophisticated drink. Particularly excessive grades additionally have a tendency to include higher quantities of younger buds or “suggestions,” which will increase the tea’s price (there’s just one bud per shoot on a tea plant versus many older leaves). However these buds add considerably to a tea’s depth of character and distinctive taste.

Tea has at all times been sorted into high quality ranges, corresponding to by relative quantities of buds, however fashionable grading of black tea by dimension is a comparatively current consequence industrialization. As British (and later, American) entrepreneurs experimented with rising tea in India, they developed extra environment friendly and economical methods to course of tea leaves. Chinese language producers are inclined to maintain tea leaves entire, however Western plantation homeowners discovered they might speed up tea oxidation by crushing and tearing leaves into smaller items. Damaged tea leaves additionally yielded a extra uniform, homogeneous taste, a serious bonus for mass-market manufacturers trying to create a constant product. And decrease grade leaves have extra floor space, too, in order that they brew quick and darkish, a helpful asset for a sizzling new invention that burst onto the scene within the early 1900s: the tea bag.

These practices proved wildly profitable, and nowadays the overwhelming majority of tea made for the Western, Japanese European, and Center Japanese markets is comparatively low grade, finely damaged black tea leaves that brew up darkish, brisk, constant, and, objectively talking, comparatively devoid of particular person character.

Now, for many folks, a daring, easy tea is precisely the purpose. You want one thing as darkish and potent as doable to chop by means of all of the milk, sugar, and spices in a cup of correct Indian chai, and in Turkey and Russia, each black-tea-loving nations, darkish, bitter, concentrated brews are the drink of selection. And everywhere in the world, tea luggage are a straightforward technique to get a cheerful caffeine repair. There’s nothing improper with a constant and dependable product; it is simply that there is extra to black tea past that consistency.

When you’re searching for one thing a bit of extra complicated and wine-like, increased grade unfastened leaf teas are the way in which to go. Go one step additional and yow will discover “single property” or unblended teas that protect rising areas’ particular person traits—similar to single-origin espresso beans or unblended wines. Here is the place issues get fascinating.

The Nice Vast World of Black Tea

Everyone knows what black tea tastes like. There is a ripe golden fruitiness that registers with a raisin-like sweetness on the tongue. There’s an astringency and, usually, a delicate lingering acidity on the palate, plus a richer, extra velvety physique than lighter teas. “Brisk” is a frequent descriptor: that refreshing crispness that retains the tea’s sweetness from turning cloying. That purple wine comparability beginning to make extra sense? Good.

As a result of similar to purple wine, there are black teas with roughly physique, roughly sweetness and astringency, and variations in secondary notes from citrus to florals to overripe fruit, and roasted nuts or chocolate. When you’re trying to dig deeper into these subtleties, listed below are just a few key kinds that present the vary of what black tea has to supply.

South Asia

Ceylon: ‘Ceylon’ teas actually simply imply teas grown on the island of Sri Lanka. Not like their Indian neighbors, Sri Lankan growers extra closely favor whole-leaf black tea kinds (although each international locations produce high- and low-grade tea), and whereas Ceylons vary enormously in high quality, they have an inclination towards sunny teas that always brew up glowing orange with reasonable physique. One of the best Ceylon teas are well-balanced: citrus or nutty excessive notes mellowed by a delicate heat that avoids heavy astringency. They’re nice to drink plain or with a touch of milk, no sugar required.

Darjeeling: The West Bengali district of Darjeeling grows India’s most prized tea: an origin-protected type from bushes initially smuggled out of China as a result of the British could not replicate the fragile candy florals of their favourite Chinese language teas. Excessive up within the Himalayas, Darjeeling tea advantages from a singular terroir that yields a wine-like sweetness that many evaluate to floral muscat grapes. The precise flavors of Darjeeling tea change by means of its rising season, so some are extra recent and piney whereas others develop extra brooding wooden cask notes, however total, Darjeeling teas are low-astringency and particularly complicated. Sadly, that reputation has led to a number of fakes; there’s much more Darjeeling offered available on the market yearly than the district of Darjeeling might probably produce. That is one tea the place it particularly pays to know your vendor.

Nepalese: A lot of these Darjeeling fakes in actual fact come from Nepal, the place related rising circumstances, fast-rising requirements for export tea, and a decrease price of labor imply a extra budget-friendly different to the nuance of true Darjeeling. Many Nepalese teas—branded as corresponding to an rising market—exhibit sturdy chocolatey qualities together with a barely extra rustic model of Darjeeling’s candy wine notes. Excessive-altitude teas like Nepal’s (and Darjeeling’s) even have a singular misty, ethereal high quality; shut your eyes, breathe deep, and you may really feel such as you’re standing proper in these mountainous tea gardens.

Assam: After Darjeeling, Assam tea is India’s most well-known, although in some ways it is the polar reverse. Grown in sunny lowlands from the stronger large-leaf Camellia sinensis var. assamica, Assam teas (named for the Indian state the place they’re grown) exemplify the daring, brisk facet of black tea, whether or not you are consuming tiny damaged “crust-tear-curl” kinds or or increased grade entire leaf variations. Excessive in astringency and acidity, they’ve a thick, lipsmacking physique that, when brewed sturdy, could make you neglect all about espresso.

China

Keemun: One among China’s extra fashionable teas within the West, Keemun tea affords among the astringency and physique of an Indian tea, however with a richer malt and darkish cocoa character brightened by delicate florals (suppose extra orchid than perfumed jasmine or rose) and infrequently a refined smokiness gained throughout processing. A great workaday tea, it is a becoming introduction to the Chinese language method to hong cha (“purple” tea), the Chinese language time period for black tea so named for the colour of the tea’s brew.

Diang Hong: Whereas pu-erh often is the value of Yunnan province, it is solely one of many teas you may discover there. See additionally diang hong, aka Yunnan Gold, which some think about to be the best black tea on Earth. It is usually {smooth} and rounded on the palate, much less brisk and astringent than Indian black teas, and is filled with chocolate sweetness that, in high quality variations, is velvety and long-lasting.

Jin Jun Mei: One other prime quality tea from China, this time the Wuyi mountains, the place teas that develop on rocky cliffs develop distinct mineral flavors to enhance deep honey notes and, in really prime quality jin jun mei, intense sweetness. High-notch jin jun mei is filled with golden suggestions and might yield deep, lasting honeylike finishes in your throat. Like many nice Chinese language black teas, it is {smooth} and rounded however highly effective stuff.

Lapsang Souchong: This tea is a smoke bomb, constituted of Chinese language black tea leaves dried over smoky pine fireplace. Low high quality variations can style as harsh as lighter fluid, however in higher lapsang souchong, the leaves’ inherent sweetness stands as much as the smoke for a potent campfire brew that warms your cheeks like Scotch. The unique lapsang souchong hails from these minerally Wuyi mountains, like jin jun mei, however nowadays the tea is produced throughout.

The place to Purchase It

Now that you’ve got seen a few of what the broader world of black tea has to supply, listed below are some commendable distributors value searching for out.

• Upton Tea Imports: All kinds of black teas from 13 international locations, together with some rarer choices like Japanese black tea, however the delight of the gathering often is the Darjeelings, which embody among the district’s highest regarded tea estates.
• Simpson & Vail: An ideal collection of Nepalese black teas for these searching for excessive elevation Himalayan kinds loaded with cocoa, pine, and that signature excessive elevation mistiness.
• Verdant Tea: Chinese language black teas from fashionable areas (Wuyi) and extra obscure (Laoshan), all fragrant and smooth-drinking. There’s an inexpensive jin jun mei that makes a superb introduction to high-quality Chinese language black tea, and a smoked Wuyi tea that exhibits simply how good lapsang souchong-type teas can get.
• In Pursuit of Tea: Prime quality choices from China, Sri Lanka, and India. One enjoyable factor to attempt with this vendor: evaluating two flushes (harvests) of Darjeeling from the identical property, which may present how the tea’s taste evolves over the rising season.
• Tune Tea: Glorious high-end Chinese language black teas that you simply will not discover from most different Western-facing distributors. Additionally some exemplary renditions of Taiwanese cultivars that carry heat honey and macerated cherry flavors alongside for the journey.

Disclosure: Some tea samples supplied for evaluation.

August 2015