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Tea (Camellia sinensis): Black Tea

Last Updated: Aug. 19, 2010

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Black Tea Leaf
Darjeeling Black Tea
from Upton Tea
Black tea is tea that has been fully oxidized (sometimes referred to as being "fermented" although it is not a true fermentation process). Both the leaves and brewed tea tend to have a dark color, although some black teas are golden in color. In Chinese, black tea is called hóngchá(紅茶), meaning red tea, although in English, red tea more often refers to rooibos, an herbal tea that is not made out of the tea plant. Black tea typically stays fresh longer than green or white teas (see storing tea). Black tea also tends to contain more tannins, chemicals giving the tea its characteristic dark color.

Black tea is the most popular and widespread style of tea in the world and makes up the bulk of the world's tea production and consumption; outside of southeast asia, most of the tea produced and consumed is black tea.

Black and Golden Wiry Tea Leaves
Golden Monkey
from Adagio Teas
Black tea is grown in many countries and comes in many styles and grades; it is hard to generalize about the flavor or aroma of black teas. It is a widespread assumption that black teas are stronger, more bitter, and more heavily caffeinated than green teas; this is not true: green teas can be quite bitter, and black teas can be mellow. The strength of tea depends both on how it is brewed and the style and grade of tea used.

The caffeine content also varies greatly from one tea to the next and depends on how the tea is brewed--and it is not safe to assume that black tea contains more caffeine than green or other types of tea. In general, black teas with more tips / leaf buds such as golden monkey are the most heavily-caffeinated of black teas, and souchongs, made out of larger leaves, are less caffeinated.

In general, black teas should be brewed with boiling water, although a few of the more delicate black teas should be brewed with water slightly below the boiling point.


Listings of this style of tea: (1021 including sub-styles - hide sub-styles)

Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 of 52 pages with 1021 results:

F : Fair Trade | O : Organic | CF : Caffeine Free | D : Decaffeinated

Leaf: L Loose | T Teabag | S Sachet | B Bloom | C Compressed
Tea:Brand:Region:# Ratings:
LTD87: Thurbo Estate FTGFOP1 Tippy/Cl. Autumnal (DJ-720)Upton Tea ImportsDarjeeling, India0
LTD88: Namring Upper Estate FTGFOP1 First Flush (EX-1)Upton Tea ImportsDarjeeling, India0
LTD89: Namring Upper Estate FTGFOP1 Second Flush (EX-313)Upton Tea ImportsDarjeeling, India0
LTD95: Seeyok Estate FTGFOP1 First Flush (DJ-3) OUpton Tea ImportsDarjeeling, India0
LTDB7: Namring Estate FTGFOP1 In-Between (DJ-44)Upton Tea ImportsDarjeeling, India0
LTDC6: Snowview Estate FTGFOP1 In-between (DJ-13)Upton Tea ImportsDarjeeling, India0
LTDC8: Poobong Estate SFTGFOP1 In-between (DJ-13)Upton Tea ImportsDarjeeling, India0
LTDD1: Balasun Estate SFTGFOP1 Ch/Cl First Flush (DJ-45)Upton Tea ImportsDarjeeling, India0
LTDD3: Arya Estate FTGFOP1 Second Flush Organic (DJ-40) OUpton Tea ImportsDarjeeling, India0
LTDD6: Sungma Estate SFTGFOP1 Ch/Cl Second Flush (DJ-140) OUpton Tea ImportsDarjeeling, India0
LTD76: Soureni Estate FTGFOP1 Cl. Spl. Second Flush (DJ-50)Upton Tea ImportsDarjeeling, India0
LTD78: Puttabong Estate SFTGFOP1 Cl/Queen 1st Flush (DJ-36)Upton Tea ImportsDarjeeling, India0
LTD92: Phuguri Estate FTGFOP1 CL First Flush (DJ-13)Upton Tea ImportsDarjeeling, India0
LTDE8: Arya Estate Ruby Organic (EX-17) OUpton Tea ImportsDarjeeling, India0
LTD11: Arya Estate Aroma (EX-4) OUpton Tea ImportsDarjeeling, India0
LTD91: Phuguri Estate FTGFOP1S Cl. Tips First FlushUpton Tea ImportsDarjeeling, India0
LTD57: Tindharia Estate FTGFOP1 Diwali (DJ-204) OUpton Tea ImportsDarjeeling, India0
LTD93: Singbulli Estate SFTGFOP1 Cl First Flush (DJ-8)Upton Tea ImportsDarjeeling, India0
LTDA3: Arya Estate Diamond First Flush (EX-15) OUpton Tea ImportsDarjeeling, India0
SOrganic Darjeeling Estate OMighty Leaf TeaDarjeeling, India0

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