Beloved Black Tea

Black tea is the most popular tea in North America and Britain. It is used in iced teas and popular blends such as "English Breakfast", "Irish Breakfast", and scented teas like  "Earl Grey". 

Black tea is traditionally steeped in boiling water until the pot runs dry! DON'T DO THIS, PLEASE!!!! You are missing out on the true aromas and flavours of this wonderful tea if you are simply pouring boiling water over your tea bags and leaving them sit until you drink it all up! Read on. 

Black tea is a real tea made from the C. sinensis plant. It is produced in India, China, Sri Lanka and Africa and more. It's very flavourful and aromatic and does well with a touch of milk, honey, lemon, sugar or sweetener. It is the only tea that is fully oxidized. 

Black tea is referred to as 'normal' tea in Britain and 'red tea' in China!

The processing of black tea can be quick: as quick as one day. The raw leaves are withered, then rolled by hand or machine. This begins the oxidation process. PLEASE NOTE: some sources mistakenly call this process 'fermentation'. It is NOT fermentation. Fermentation involves the action of micro-organisms. Pu-erh tea is fermented. Black tea is not. It is oxidized. (Heiss & Heiss)

If rolled, this is called the 'orthodox' method. Higher quality teas come from this method because the buds don't break. This can be done by hand or machine. The finest leaves are picked first for this method.

The CTC method, or Cut-Tear-Curl method is a sub-par method of processing tea, and it is used for tea in tea bags. The lower quality tea leaves are pressed through a roller with teeth, cutting and rolling the tea at the same time. This type of tea has great surface area, allowing a fast steep time. Certainly this is more convenient for a person on the run. CTC teas count for about 90% of the black teas produced in today's market, and much of Africa's teas go to this production. 

After being rolled or put through the CTC method, the leaves are allowed to rest. This rest releases the enzymes that hold flavour and aroma.  They are then dried in ovens, halting the oxidation method and sealing in those wonderful flavours and aromas! 

Black teas should be steeped at just under boiling point, at about 96 degrees Celsius. They steep at the highest of all the teas. They should steep for about 3-5 minutes. THEY DO NOT STEEP WELL THE SECOND TIME since tannins have been released. (Although some sources, Cheadle and Kilby included, say black teas only contain tannin 'like' substances. Nonetheless, they all agree on a single steep.)

The liquor of black tea is a coppery, reddish brown. Steeped too long and it becomes astringent and you will have the 'puckery' feeling in your mouth. Black teas pair well with many foods, including meats, breads, chocolates and sweets! (Keating & Long)

The only tea that does NOT take milk well is the "champagne of teas", Darjeeling. This is a very unique black tea grown in the northeastern foothills of India, in the Himalayan Mountains. It is a pungent, crisp, muscatel tea. Steep at a lower temperature, between 80-90 degrees Celsius, and for only 3 minutes, and do not add milk. Heiss & Heiss recommend tasting the tea soon after steeping as the flavour may 'bolt'. 

Some popular black teas:

ASSAM

 - from NE India, the Assam Valley

 - grows C. Sinensis var. assamica

 - in most breakfast blends

 - very strong tea

 - can be processed both Orthodox and CTC

 - CTC Assam that is famously British

CEYLON

 - grown in Sri Lanka (previously named Ceylon)

 - strong and tart

 - aromatic

 - teas here are classified by altitude

NILGIRI

 - SE India, from the 'Blue Mountains' of Nilgiri

 - brisk and fragrant

 - often used in blends

YUNNAN

 - SW China

 - rich and peppery

 - has been produced for over 1700 years!

BLENDED BLACK TEAS:

 - ENGLISH BREAKFAST:

  - has Assam in it

  - takes milk and sugar well

  - ironically developed in Scotland, but Queen Victoria loved it when she summered at Balmoral

 - IRISH BREAKFAST

  - has Assam and Ceylon

  - hearty, tart

  - is famously strong

There are many more types of black tea. My favourite is a scented black tea: EARL GREY!!! I have done a previous post on it. You can read it here. 

The Tea Association of the USA says three or more cups of black tea a day can decrease your risk of heart disease and stroke! So enjoy your cuppa - guilt free! What's your favourite black tea?

Works Cited:

The Little Black Book of Tea - Heneberry

The Tea Book: All Things Tea - Cheadle and Kilby

The Tea Enthusiast's Handbook - Heiss & Heiss

How to Make Tea: The Science Behind The Leaf - Keating & Long

Earl Grey: The Man, The Myth, The Mys-TEA-ry

How is the man behind Earl Grey Tea actually connected to it? IS he connected?

According to Keating and Long, Earl Grey Tea is the most popular flavoured tea in the world. It is named after the famed British Prime Minister, Earl Charles Grey, who was Prime Minister from 1830 to 1834. It is a very strong black tea with essence of orange bergamot. Delicious! It is MY favourite tea and has been for YEARS. 

But did Earl Grey really lend his name to the product? Did he invent the tea? Did he even know about it? These are things I've been curious about and decided to research. It turns out there are several theories floating about. 

My favourite books, The True History of Tea, How to Make Tea: The Science Behind the Leaf and The Tea Book: All Things Tea, had very shockingly nothing to say about the history of the tea. So I had to go to the Interweb. Something I am reluctant to do. 

Tea Forte Inc has a great article on their website entitled "The Mysterious History of Earl Grey Tea". They outline the traditional lore. The main story is that he was gifted the delicate blend and was delighted to share it, even with Queen Victoria! Another story goes further, saying he was gifted the blend by a Chinese official because he saved the official's son while in China. There are a few problems with this story, however. One is that there are no records of Grey ever having visited China. Another is that bergamot oranges are native to Italy, and there are no records of them being grown in China at the time!

So how did bergamot meet with black tea?

There ARE historic accounts of adulterated tea being primed with bergamot essence to hide its poorer quality. This occurred around in the early 1800s. (See article on adulteration HERE.)There is no doubt the Earl would NOT lend his name to such a product. 

World Tea News reports on their website, under the article "A Brief History of Earl Grey", that possibly black tea and bergamot oranges were being shipped together and the orange essence absorbed into the tea. Possibly the Earl liked this and lent his name to the new product? But again - how would oranges from Italy and tea from China be on the same shipment?

It goes further to state that a Chinese friend of the Earl came up with the concoction to offset the mineral taste of the Earl's water. 

In 2012 the Oxford English Dictionary began an official investigation into the connection between Earl Charles Grey and the tea. They found nothing to suggest the existence of the tea until after his death! They say it is "rather unlikely" he championed or recommended the tea. In fact, there is speculation that William Grey, a merchant in the mid 19th century, advertised his own blend and called it 'Earl Grey'. 

Youtube has some fun theories. Slaruerue states that Earl Grey's maid couldn't blend his tea how he wanted it so he had to go into the kitchen and do it himself. Dave McClelland of "WHAT THE HECK?" postulates my favourite theory: that horses carrying loads of black tea and bergamot oranges slipped on the cobblestones in Newcastle on a rainy day. So did the Earl. He landed in the gutter, amidst the spilled produce and tea, and discovered a delightful mixture of tea, bergamot...and horse droppings. Thus making his favourite new tea!

What is YOUR favourite theory?? DID the Earl Grey invent the famous tea? Did he even TASTE the famous tea? 

My FAVOURITE Earl Grey tea, the one I am OBSESSED with, is Cream of Earl Grey Tea by DAVIDsTEA. It has all the delicious of bergamot and a lovely black tea but a smooth creaminess sans the horse manure. Oh my. 

You can order it HERE.

Happy Steeping!

SOURCES:

How To Make Tea: The Science Behind The Leaf (Keating and Long)
Tea Forte Inc "The Mysterious History Of Earl Grey Tea"
World Tea News "A Brief History of Earl Grey"
slaruerue
Dave McClelland