Black Tea

Although I love all kinds of tea, black tea is the form I drink most frequently on a day-to-day basis. As I write this, I am sitting at my kitchen table on a gray and gloomy afternoon, looking out the window into the garden and sipping a smoky cup of Russian Caravan, a traditional blend of pine-smoked Lapsang Souchong and sweet Keemun teas from China.

Although green and oolong teas have recently gained more recognition, black tea is still by far the most popular form of tea in the West, and it is where most of us begin our journeys into the world of tea.

Black tea, like all other true teas (as opposed to herbal tisanes), comes from the Camellia sinensis plant. After the leaves are harvested, however, they are allowed to oxidize more completely before drying. This is what gives the leaves their dark brown or blackish color. When steeped, they produce a liquor ranging in color from gold (as in Darjeeling teas) to crimson to dark brown. For this reason, what we call black is usually referred to as red or crimson tea in China and some other Asian countries.

Personally, I love black tea for its bold flavor and the invigorating quality that comes from its high caffeine content (relative to other varieties of tea--it still contains quite a bit less caffeine than coffee!). It is certainly my favorite way to start the day, and it makes an excellent afternoon pick-me-up, or even after-dinner refreshment (as long as you plan on staying up for a little while!) as well.

Black Tea Varieties

There are dozens of black varieties available from all over the world, and each of these usually has several sub-varieties as well, not to mention different grades of quality. But there's no need to get overwhelmed by this variety of varieties--it's the spice of life, after all! Over time, try different kinds of tea and learn what you like. From there, you can deepen your knowledge by trying several teas of one variety, or expand your taste by experimenting with other kinds of tea.

My seven favorite black teas from around the world:

• Assam - a full-flavored, malty tea from the northeast part of India, and a common element in popular blends intended to be served with milk, including many breakfast teas.
• Darjeeling - from the foothills of the Himalayas in West Bengal, India--sometimes marketed as the "champagne of teas," Darjeeling has a light, flowery quality and a distinctive muscatel flavor. This is my personal favorite (but, having visited Darjeeling, I'm a little bit biased)!
• Nilgiri - a bold and highly fragrant tea from the Nilgiri hills of Kerala and Tamil Nadu in southern India. I once rode through the Nilgiri hills on a bus!
• Ceylon - (from the old name for Sri Lanka) a lighter tea than Assam or Nilgiri, though still quite flavorful. Ceylon teas have a clean, citrus taste.
• Keemun - this fruity tea from Anhui Province, China is the most important ingredient in traditional English Breakfast blends. One of the ten "China Famous Teas".
• Dian hong - a dark, malty tea from Yunnan Province, China. Yunnan teas are some of my favorites, and they go quite well with milk.
• Lapsang Souchong - another one of my personal favorites! This tea from the Wuyi region of Fujian Province, China is smoke-dried over pinewood fires. If Darjeeling is the champagne of teas, I like to think of Lapsang Souchong as the single-malt Scotch.

Black Tea Blends

Often, tea companies will mix various kinds of tea, with or without other herbs, spices, or other flavoring agents, to create blends with consistent and distinctive qualities. In the case of cheaper teas meant for the mass market, this is often done to compensate for the poor quality of the tea. Some of the better tea companies, however, create very high quality blends made with whole leaves.

My five favorite black tea blends:

• Earl Grey - a distinctive tea flavored with oil of bergamot. I often enjoy Earl Grey blends in the afternoon and evening.
• English Breakfast - a good, strong tea blended to go well with milk and sugar.
• Irish Breakfast - consisting of mostly Assam teas, Irish Breakfast is quite malty and goes well with milk. High in caffeine, in my experience it makes a great hangover remedy!
• Masala Chai - a traditional Indian blend of chai (the Hindi word for tea) and masala, or spices--with cardamom as the dominant note in most blends.
• Russian Caravan - a Chinese blend of Keemun and Lapsang Souchong; the better blends have the best features of both, in my opinion.

Processing

The best black teas are processed according to the "orthodox" method, as opposed to the "Crush, Tear, Curl" (or CTC) method used for lower-quality leaves, which often end up in tea bags. Many of the best teas are processed by hand. The leaves are carefully oxidized under controlled temperature and humidity, then dried. Finally, the leaves are sorted into grades, with whole leaf grades being the best, and broken leaves, fannings, and dust at the lower end of the spectrum.

As always, I highly recommend purchasing fine, (mostly) whole-leaf teas. This usually means skipping the tea bags and buying your tea leaves loose. Not only will you end up with a more satisfying cup, but you may save money as well, since the tea bags you'll find at the grocery store are often ridiculously overpriced, considering the poor quality of the leaves (or rather fannings and dust) inside them.

Brewing the Perfect Cup of Black Tea

There is nothing quite like a hot cup of black tea with fresh whole milk and sugar or honey, especially on a damp and dreary day. But many of the best whole-leaf black teas, such as Darjeelings, are best enjoyed without milk or sweetener of any kind.

Most whole-leaf black teas should be steeped for 4-5 minutes in water just off the boil. When making tea to be served with milk, I always go for 5 minutes. On the other hand, I never steep Darjeeling for more than 3 minutes! Broken leaf teas infuse faster (due to the increased surface area of the leaves) and should usually not be steeped for more than 3-4 minutes, unless you plan on adding milk and sugar. My friends always give me a hard time for using a kitchen timer, but for those of us who are easily distracted by things like books, cats, and phone calls from old friends, using a timer is an absolute necessity!