Black TeaThough all varieties of tea are made from the same plant, the processing makes the resulting beverages intensely different. Black tea is more oxidized than either green, oolong or white varieties. It is generally stronger in flavor and contains more caffeine. It is sometimes referred to as crimson tea in China, referring to the color of its liquor. It could also refer to the color of the oxidized leaves.
There are two ways to process this variety. After the leaves are harvested, they are withered by fans. Then the process called CTC (crush, tear and curl) or the orthodox hand processing is used. CTC is common practice to produce lower quality tea. They are processed by machines and end up in teabags. Hand processing is used for higher quality teas. Whichever process is used, the next step is to oxidize the leaves under controlled temperature and humidity. The quality of the tea determines the level of oxidation. The leaves are then dried to stop the oxidation.
The leaves are then sorted and graded, usually by using a sieve. The sorting results in whole leaves, brokens, fannings or, literally, dust. Whole leaf teas are considered the highest quality. This is not to say that brokens, fannings and dust have no place in the tea world. They are what ends up in teabags, but their liquor is usually much harsher and less sweet than that of the whole leaf product.
Black tea will retain its flavor for several years, while the green and white varieties usually lose their flavor within a year. Black tea was formed into bricks, and because it could retained it's flavor the bricks were used as a form of currency as late as the nineteenth century in Tibet and Mongolia. This black liquid also served as a cloth dye for the merchant classes during the Ming Dynasty. Prior to the 19th century, tea that was traded to Europe was green or oolong. Black then surpassed the green variety in popularity, accounting for over ninety percent of all tea sold to the Western world.
Usually, black teas are named for the regions from which they come. For instance, Keemun and Yunnan in China. One exception to this is Lapsang Souchong, a black tea which is dried over burning pine, which gives it a smoky quality. Lapsang Souchong means smoke tea.
Some of the finest black teas come from India, such as Assam, with a bold, somewhat malty flavor, and Darjeeling, known as the champagne of tea come from India. There are many popular black tea blends, as well. Earl Grey is blended with oil of bergamot and is the most popular blended black tea in America. Beacause of its popularity, we named our tea room after it, Earl Grey Manor. English Breakfast can be a blend of several teas, but usually such blacks as Keemun, Kenyan, and sometimes Assam. It is full-bodied and strong and holds up well to milk, which is the way most Great Britains and people from other Commonwealth countries like it.
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