Tea, Food and Recipes.

Black tea comes from the camellia sinensis plant as we have established, but it has been oxidized the longest. This gives it it’s stronger flavour. The camellia sinensis var. assamica variety of the plant is the variety that is normally used to produce black teas because of it’s large leaves. Different countries refer to black tea in different ways. In China it is referred to as the “red tea”; in japan and korea as hongcha; in Bengali as Lal cha, all these names refer to the colour of the liquid that results from steeping the tea leaves. In the west it is called “black tea” which refers to the colour of the oxidized leaves. Black teas retain its flavour for several years, unlike green teas which are oxidized less. Common black teas are English Breakfast and Earl Grey blends.