68 articles
Assam tea
Assam tea: black tea from the Brahmaputra valley, India, from Camellia sinensis var. assamica; noted 1823 by Robert Bruce, first sold in London 1839, malty full-bodied CTC and orthodox teas, about half of India's output.
Black tea
Black tea (Chinese hongcha, 红茶, "red tea") is fully oxidized Camellia sinensis tea, made by withering, rolling, enzymatic oxidation, and drying; distinct from heicha dark tea, standardized in ISO 3720, with India its largest producer.
Boston Tea Party
Boston Tea Party: December 16, 1773 protest at Griffin's Wharf, Boston Harbor, where colonists disguised as Mohawk Indians dumped 342 chests of East India Company tea from the Dartmouth, Eleanor, and Beaver to oppose the Tea Act monopoly, prompting the Intolerable Acts.
Bubble tea (珍珠奶茶)
Bubble tea (珍珠奶茶), also called pearl milk tea or boba, is a Taiwanese 1980s drink of tea, milk, sugar, and chewy tapioca pearls, now a global beverage sold by chains like Chatime and Gong Cha.
Butter tea
Butter tea (po cha, bod ja) is the churned Tibetan and Himalayan drink of strong brick tea, yak or cattle butter, and salt, a daily high-altitude staple with regional forms such as Bhutanese suja and Ladakhi gur-gur chai.
Butterfly pea flower tea
Butterfly pea flower tea, also called blue tea, anchan, or bunga telang, is a caffeine-free tisane from Clitoria ternatea flowers; its ternatin anthocyanins brew blue and turn purple-pink with lemon, and the extract is an FDA-listed natural food colorant.
Chinese herbal tea botanicals (chrysanthemum, licorice, honeysuckle, and others)
Chinese herbal tea botanicals such as chrysanthemum, licorice, and honeysuckle are medicine-food-homology plant materials brewed as tisanes; about 782 species are used, with FDA GRN 13 and safety issues including glycyrrhizin and contaminants.
Coca tea
Coca tea, or mate de coca, is an Andean infusion of coca leaves containing about 4 mg of cocaine per cup and no caffeine; it causes positive cocaine drug tests and remains internationally controlled.
Cream tea
Cream tea: a British West Country meal of scones with clotted cream and jam plus tea. Devon serves cream first, Cornwall jam first; clotted cream must be at least 55% milk fat.
Da Hong Pao (大红袍)
Da Hong Pao (大红袍) is a famous Wuyi rock tea oolong from Mount Wuyi, Fujian. Six protected mother trees at Jiulongke, unpicked since 2006; Qi Dan certified 2012; pure-variety and blended commercial forms; 2006 national intangible heritage craft.
Darjeeling tea
Darjeeling tea, the "champagne of teas", is a GI-protected Himalayan black tea from 87 gardens in West Bengal's Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts, grown from Chinese-variety bushes at up to 2,000 m, prized for muscatel flavor and sold in four flushes.
Earl Grey tea
Earl Grey tea, also called bergamot tea, is black tea scented with oil from the bergamot orange (Citrus bergamia) grown in Calabria, Italy. Named for Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey, British Prime Minister 1830–1834; Twinings sold it from 1831; variants include Lady Grey and French Earl Grey.
English breakfast tea
English breakfast tea is a strong black tea blend, historically Chinese Congou, Pouchong, or Keemun, now usually Assam, Ceylon, and Kenyan teas; it has no standardized recipe, was named in 1840s Scotland, and is drunk with milk.
Green tea
Green tea (绿茶) is unoxidized Camellia sinensis tea, fixed by steaming or pan-firing. Oldest of the six Chinese tea categories; four Chinese types, Ming-era loose-leaf shift, EGCG content, and brewing temperatures distinguish it.
Gunpowder tea
Gunpowder tea (珠茶, zhū chá, "pearl tea") is a Chinese green tea from Zhejiang rolled into tight pellets, exported in bulk and the traditional base of Moroccan mint tea with spearmint and sugar.
Health effects of tea
The health effects of tea, also called the health benefits of tea, cover how drinking green, black, and other Camellia sinensis teas affects heart disease, cancer, weight, and cognition.
Herbal tea
Herbal tea, also called tisane, is a hot-water infusion of plants other than Camellia sinensis, usually caffeine-free; prepared by infusion, decoction, or maceration, with a small clinical evidence base and documented herb–drug interaction risks.
Hibiscus tea
Hibiscus tea, aka karkade, agua de Jamaica, bissap, sobolo, or sorrel, is a caffeine-free tart red tisane from dried Hibiscus sabdariffa calyces, brewed hot or cold across Africa, the Caribbean, and Latin America.
History of tea
History of tea: how Camellia sinensis, originating in southwest China, spread from Han and Tang China and Lu Yu's Ch'a Ching to Japan, Europe, India, and a 35-country global industry.
History of tea in India
History of tea in India: from the 1820s discovery of indigenous Assam tea by Robert Bruce and the 1834 Tea Committee, through colonial plantations and indenture, to today's Tea Board-governed industry, the world's largest black tea producer.
Hōjicha (焙じ茶)
Hōjicha (焙じ茶, houjicha) is Japanese roasted green tea made by roasting bancha or sencha at about 170°C, giving pyrazine-based toasted aroma, low astringency, and 20 mg caffeine per 100 mL, distinct from unroasted bancha.
Hunar Cafe and Billiards
Hunar Cafe and Billiards (Kurdish: چایخانەو بلیاردی هونەر) is a cafe and billiards venue on Goran Street in central Sulaymaniyah, Iraq, pairing a teahouse with billiards tables.
Ichi-go ichi-e (一期一会)
Ichi-go ichi-e (一期一会), "one lifetime, one meeting," is a Japanese tea-ceremony phrase for treating each gathering as unrepeatable. Thought from Rikyū via Yamanoue Sōji ki (1588); the four-character phrase was coined by Ii Naosuke in Chanoyu ichie shū.
International Tea Day
International Tea Day (国际茶日), a UN observance on 21 May since resolution A/RES/74/241 (2019), led by FAO to honor tea's rural development role; also a separate 15 December tea-worker observance since 2005.
ISO 3103
ISO 3103 is the ISO standard (with BS 6008:1980 as its British origin) specifying how to brew tea liquor for sensory tests: 2 g per 100 ml, boiling water, 6 minutes for black tea, standardized porcelain pots, bowls, and milk handling.
Japanese tea ceremony
Japanese tea ceremony (chanoyu, 茶の湯; chadō, 茶道): the traditional Japanese practice of preparing and serving matcha to guests, refined by Murata Jukō, Takeno Jōō, and Sen no Rikyū, with koicha and usucha, many schools, and wabi aesthetics.
Jasmine tea (茉莉花茶)
Jasmine tea (茉莉花茶) is a Chinese reprocessed scented tea made by scenting roasted green tea with fresh jasmine flowers and removing them; Fuzhou is its birthplace, its craft entered UNESCO's 2022 heritage list, and grades are set by scenting rounds under GB/T 22292-2017.
Kombucha
Kombucha, also called kōcha kinoko (red tea mushroom), is a lightly effervescent fermented sweetened tea made with a SCOBY culture; origins traced to China around 220 B.C., pH 2.5-4.2, under 0.5% alcohol, thin human health evidence.
Lapsang souchong (正山小种)
Lapsang souchong (正山小种, Zhèngshān Xiǎozhǒng) is a pine-smoked black tea from Tongmu, Wuyishan, Fujian, regarded as the world's earliest black tea; exported to Europe from 1610, protected by GB/T 13738.3-2012 and an EU PGI.
Lipton
Lipton is a global tea brand founded by Sir Thomas Lipton in Glasgow in 1871, known for Yellow Label black tea sold in over 100 countries. Packaged tea is owned by LIPTON Teas and Infusions (CVC Capital Partners, since 2022); iced tea sits in the PepsiCo-Unilever Pepsi Lipton joint venture.