All about black tea!

Harvey Cocks
Jan 8, 2020
4 min read

Updated: Jun 1, 2020

Black tea! It's dark, strong and the most popular tea out there! So, today I will do an in-depth style analysis on several aspects from what they commonly taste like all the way to how they are processed and much more!

Sit down, have a cup of tea whilst reading this article as today we are gonna learn all about black tea!

Disclaimer:

Links at the end of this post are affiliate links, this means that if you make a purchase through any of the links shown within this blog post, I will earn a commission for each sale. My honesty to my audience is a priority and thus why this disclaimer is in place.

So, in today's blog, I will break down some common questions about black tea and then further go into the story and background behind black tea.

So, what is black tea?

Black tea is what your standard typical cup of tea is, the tea bag that you buy from PG tips, Yorkshire tea, Tetley and many other teabag companies sometimes don't even write on their packaging that what you are drinking is a black tea and more just the word "tea". Over time this has just happened due to the popularity of black tea and how many countries associate it with the standard cup of tea that you may drink on a daily basis. In fact, over 90% of tea in the western side of the world is accounted for with black tea.

Cool, so what does it taste like?

Black tea can be drunk with or without milk/sugar. In the UK most people will put some milk in with their black tea and sometimes sugar to make it taste better, as black tea is very strong and potent. Overtime in the UK, adding milk and sugar is what a "normal" cup of tea is especially if you go out to a cafe or drinking it at home. However you can drink black tea by itself, and many people do so.

Now keep in mind that there are many different types of black tea but typically the taste, if you are having black tea without milk and sugar, is quite dark, roasted and especially rich in a malty flavour. However, if drunken with milk and sugar, the taste is quite different and is much lighter in the tones of taste and it becomes a weaker form which for some people is tastier than a strong brew.

Okay, and what is typically the price to buy some black tea?

Due to the fact that black tea is the most common type of tea drunken all over the world, but especially in most western countries the cost is usually not too expensive if you are buying loose leaf black teas, but much cheaper if you are buying tea bags.

The standard price for a box of black tea bags in the UK is around £2.50. For looseleaf, on the other hand, it will be on average around £4-5 per 100g.

Since black tea is a heavily oxidised tea, you will find that most black teas taste quite similar in it's tasting notes however do know that there are various kinds that all taste very different. So this means that when it comes to purchasing loose leaf black teas, just keep in mind that the black tea you buy is most likely going to be a lot stronger if you are switching from black tea bags, so when brewing just be easy on how long you leave the tea in for.

Nice! So what brands would you recommend?

Personally I would recommend the following brands for black tea, in a teabag form from the UK:

Cheaper teabag brands:

-Yorkshire tea

-Twinings

-Pukka

More expensive teabag brands:

-Whittard

-Tea Pigs

-Brew Tea Co

And here are my recommendations for black tea in loose leaf tea brands:

Cheaper loose leaf brands:

-Char Teas

-Whittard

-The Tea Makers Of London

More expensive loose leaf brands:

-Mei Leaf

-What-Cha

-T2

So now you know the basics of what a black tea is, what the pricing is and what brands I recommend. Let's move onto a little bit about the background and history of black tea!

Black tea first originated like most others teas from China, the tea itself is known to be one most common types of tea to be the strongest due to its heavy oxidation like I said earlier, but on top of this, it is in some countries and places around the world called "Red Tea" due to the colour of the tea in itself being reminiscent of a dark red, brown or orangey-like colour.

Black teas due to their strong flavour tend to keep on the shelf for quite a while if concealed appropriately, in fact some companies compress the leaves into a brick and were even served as a currency in Mongolia, Tibet, and Siberia in the 19th century! Below you can see what that may have looked like:

How black tea is processed and made is quite a lengthy process but is very interesting! Firstly, the tea pickers will pick off the leaves, then the leaves are first withered by blowing air on them. After doing so the black tea leaves are processed in a multitude of ways depending on whether the tea is going to be a high-quality loose leaf or low quality or tea bag form. But the basic premise is essentially heavily rolling the leaves or mechanically rolling them and oxidizing them through temperature and humidity to ferment the teas, fully oxidizing the leaves makes it a black tea but by making the leaves being put under low oxidization makes it a green tea! The leaves are then left to dry and then are sorted into grades according to their sizes and quality of leaf and are shipped out to tea factories and companies for packaging and putting together.

So! Now you know more about black tea, so whenever someone offers you a cup of tea. You can tell them that what they are drinking has a story to it as does every tea in our world!

Thank you for reading my blog, and don't forget to keep with the loose leaf teas and not with the bags!