Types Of Tea & Tea Terminology

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Black Cohosh Tea: An herbal tea used to ease the symptoms of menopause and menstrual discomfort. It is also used for cough, hardening of the arteries, high cholesterol levels and rheumatism. Black cohosh has not been evaluated by the FDA for effectiveness or safety.

Black Tea: Black tea is green tea that has been oxidized by fermentation. Black tea is the most common form of tea drunk worldwide. Black tea is fully oxidized and roasted (oolong is half-oxidized). The green tea leaves are allowed to oxidize, or ferment, for two to four hours, to a black color. After plucking and gathering, the leaves are spread out in the air, and then hand-tossed until they become soft and flaccid, when they are roasted for a few minutes, and rolled. They are then exposed to the air for a few hours in a soft and moist state, finally withered or dried slowly over a low heat charcoal fire.

Organic black tea from Ceylon is available from Mighty Leaf Tea.

The leaves are then fired at a higher temperature to fix the flavor of the tea before being sorted into different leaf quality and sizes. The operation of roasting and rolling is sometimes repeated several times, until the leaves have become the proper color. When brewed, black tea forms a reddish or reddish-brown liquor or color, has a maltose flavor and a rich flowery aroma. The principal grades of black tea are Bohea (the poorest quality); Congou; Oolong; Souchong, one of the finest varieties; and Pekoe, a fine-flavored kind, made chiefly from young spring buds. Styles of black tea, based on provenance and/or blend, include: Assam, Ceylon, Darjeeling, English Breakfast, Golden Needle, Irish Breakfast, Keemun, Lapsang Souchong, Keemun, and Yunnan.

Black tea contains the most caffeine of all teas (due to the extended firing process), but much less than coffee: about 40 mg per cup, depending on strength and steeping time. Coffee, by comparison, has 80 to 100 mg per cup. The water-extractable polyphenol content of black tea ranges from 3% to 10%; green tea has between 30% and 40%.

Black teas: Lapsang Souchong, Orange Pekoe, Orchid Vanilla, Orange Spice. Photo courtesy of TeaForte.com.

Blend or Blended Tea: Many teas—e.g. English Breakfast and Earl Grey—are not a single variety but are blends of different teas. Blends are created by a tea taster who decides what proportions of each different tea leaf are required to produce the flavor of the blend. In addition to creating distinctive flavors, blending is used to create consistency in taste from one growing season to the next. Read more about blended tea.

Blue Tea: Another term for oolong tea, based on the bluish hues of dried oolong tea leaves.

Body: The strength of the liquor combined with its viscosity (weight on the tongue). Body may be full, light, et al. A tea with good body has both fullness and strength, as opposed to being thin and weak.

Bohea: Tea from the Wu-i Hills in Fukien, China. Originally, the term was applied both to black China tea and to tea from Indonesia. In the 18th century, Bohea, or Bo-hee, was the generic name given to the tea drink.

Bouquet: All of the characteristics of smell that are perceived through the nose when one sniffs the teas.

Breakfast Tea: A tea that tastes delicious when served in the traditional Western breakfast-style, with milk and sugar, generally a black tea or blend. Examples include Chai (black tea flavored with Indian spices), Earl Grey (black tea flavored with bergamot orange), English Breakfast (Assam) and Orange Pekoe (ceylon black tea).

Bubble Tea: A sweet, cold, black or green tea drink created in Taiwan in the 1983 when Liu Han-Chieh introduced tapioca pearls. The new food fad, especially popular among school children, was to add tapioca pearls into a favorite drink—mostly cold, milky, flavored tea drinks in a myriad of flavors. The large chewy pearls come in gray-black or beige-white. The teas have flavored powders that give color to the drink. Also popular is a “freeze” made with tea, fresh fruit, simple syrup, ice and tapioca balls. The tapioca pearls look like bubbles, earning the drinks the name, “bubble tea." Other names include black pearl tea, boba, boba drink, boba ice tea, boba nai cha, pearl ice tea, pearl milk tea, pearl shake, pearl tea drink, tapioca ball drink, zhen zhou nai cha, plus initials: BBT, PT and QQ (which means “chewy” in Chinese).

Strawberry bubble tea. Photo by Dream Big Photos | IST.

Brassy: Unpleasant metallic tang or acidic bite from improperly withered tea.

Brew: One of several terms, also including infusion and liquor, that refer to the brewed tea.