Several customers have asked me if I sell “British tea.” I often reply, “What’s British tea?” They usually mean black tea. When I started my tea company, I discovered numerous black tea varieties. I began tasting black teas from Kenya, China, India, and Sri Lanka. Each country produces several black tea varieties, but here are a few of my favorites:
Golden Yunnan Black Tea
Harvested from wild, ancient heirloom tea trees in the famous Yunnan province in China, this black tea has golden tips. When steeped, it produces a dark, full-bodied brew with peppery chocolate notes and a sweet caramel finish. Golden Yunnan is usually blended in breakfast black teas.
Organic Ceylon Black Tea
Grown in the high altitude of Sri Lanka’s famous Nuwara Eliya tea mountain region, this is a rare orange pekoe black tea. An extraordinary tea, it brews a bright, brisk cup with sweet floral notes.
Kenyan Black Tea
Rainforest Alliance Certified black tea from western Kenya’s Kisii region brews a rich, bold, full-bodied cup with a sweet maple finish. Small-scale tea farmers grow their tea bushes on a half- or one-acre plot, or shamba.
Biodynamic Darjeeling Black Tea
Black teas from Darjeeling, India are nicknamed the “champagne of teas.” Tea pickers pluck the best spring leaves for this tea. A 100-percent Darjeeling tea – a rarity – brews a brisk, light-pink cup with apple and grape notes.
All these black teas are completely oxidized and go through similar production methods. The flavor profiles and characteristics are different, though, because of the soil, tea bush species, rainfall, and so on. I hope you have a chance to sample these wonderful black teas!
I”m not surprised to hear this. I had assumed many people believed Earl Gray was the classic British tea or black tea. Although I’m not a huge fan of black tea, it’s certainly worth trying the variety from various countries.
I think you may be selling yourself short – “English Breakfast” or “Builders Tea” is a very thick brew, often a mix of black Assam and Ceylon tea, frequently made with very small leaf bits so that it brews a thick cup in about thirty seconds. It’s usually cut with milk. My friends here (in England) who like tea don’t want me to serve them my nice Keemuns or Darjeelings, they want PG Tips or something of the sort and don’t even like my tea because it’s too watery for them.
I thought English Breakfast was Earl Gray…..? Interesting to learn about this “thick” brew. I had never heard of that before or “builders tea”. I think I’ll google it and see what comes up.
Thanks.
Here’s what Wikipedia has to say about builders tea:
Builder’s tea is the nickname for strong, cheap tea, as is often drunk by builders when taking a break. The tea variety used is typically Assam tea, usually served in a mug with milk and, often, one or more sugars.[1] Back in 1916, the ministry of Munitions’ health committee wrote in a publication called ‘Hours of Work’, ‘an opportunity for tea is regarded as beneficial both to health and output’.[2] It is a staple of greasy spoon restaurants. The name is derived from the quick, strong cuppa most often drunk by construction workers or builders as their tea break never lasted more than five minutes.
These days “Builder’s tea” can be used on many building sites as slang which means strong, milky and with two sugars. This saves the time of the tea boy/labourer when he asks everyone how they would like their tea. Usually the ratio of water to milk is about 4:1, respectively. The tea is also mainly brewed in the mugs on site rather than a teapot.
Here’s another interesting take on builders tea by the Telegraph.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/3289673/Liquid-assets-builders-tea.html
Thanks Michelle for your research on builder’s tea. I had never heard of it myself.
T Wiswell–I like English Breakfast. Knowing that it is a combination of black teas kind of changed my perspective. I understand why blends differ by brand. I find my golden yunnan and Keemun teas take milk very well. PG tips is a different beast.That teas is thick and bitter. But it is about slowly changing people’s palates to enjoy better tea.