Black tea is a variety of tea that is more oxidized than the oolong, green, and whiteCamellia sinensis. Black tea is generally stronger in flavor and contains more caffeine than the less oxidized teas. Two principal varieties of the species are used, the small-leaved Chinese variety plant (C. sinensis sinensis), also used for green and white teas, and the large-leaved Assamese plant (C. sinensis assamica), which was traditionally only used for black tea, although in recent years some green has been produced.

In Chinese and Chinese influenced languages, black tea is known as "crimson tea" (紅茶, Mandarin Chinese hóngchá; Japanese kōcha; Korean hongcha), perhaps a more accurate description of the colour of the liquid. The name black tea, however, could alternatively refer to the colour of the oxidized leaves. In Chinese, "black tea" is a commonly used classification for post-fermented teas, such as Pu-erh tea. However, in the Western world, "red tea" more commonly refers to rooibos, a South African tisane.

While green tea usually loses its flavor within a year, black tea retains its flavour for several years. For this reason, it has long been an article of trade, and compressed bricks of black tea even served as a form of de facto currency in Mongolia, Tibet, and Siberia into the 19th century.  It was known since the Tang Dynasty that black tea steeped in hot water could also serve as a passable cloth dye for the lower classes that could not afford the better quality clothing colours of the time.  However, far from being a mark of shame, the "brown star" mark of the dyeing process was seen as much better than plain cloth and held some importance as a mark of the lower merchant classes through the Ming Dynasty. The tea originally imported to Europe was either green or semi-oxidized. Only in the 19th century did black tea surpass green in popularity. Although green tea has recently seen a revival due to its purported health benefits, black tea still accounts for over ninety percent of all tea sold in the West.

A Quick History of Chinese Black Tea

Chinese Black Tea as it is called today in the West is the name given those teas that have been fermented and the tea has a distinct red colour. This does not include the semi-fermented and post-fermented teas which produce green and black coloured teas respectively. In China, these so-called “Black Teas” are actually known as Red Tea (Hong Cha) because of the reddish colour of the brew.

True Black Chinese Teas as they are known in China are the post-fermented (aged) teas of which the Pu-Erh family of teas is the most famous.  These teas are a type of fermented tea that is aged like vintage wine, continuing the fermentation process over time (post-fermentation). Paradoxically, aged tea comes in green and black varieties!

The confusion in naming came about in the 17^th century when Dutch and British traders noticed that the leaves were darker than the usual un-fermented green varieties consumed throughout China. The first mention of tea in European literature was in the book “Sea Voyage”, written by Lamu Soar, a Venetian.

When the British who traded in Xiamen City in Fujian province were first introduced to Black Tea , they thought they had found the proverbial pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Here was a tea which had a taste they liked much better than green tea, could be shipped for long distances without spoiling and actually improved with age. And the label of “Black Tea” has stuck in the West ever since.

But history continues the confusion. Today, the vast majority of tea consumed in the West is from India. Unlike in China where all tea comes from the Camellia sinensis plant species, Indian tea is made from the native Camellia assamica species which has a higher (and more economical) yield, a stronger flavor and much higher levels of caffeine. Modern favourites like Darjeeling, Earl Gray and Orange Pekoe were developed by early British growers in India trying to inexpensively reproduce their favourite beverage from China.

Up to this time, the British preferred to pay the Chinese for their tea with the opium they cultivated from India. This became the cause of many wars and disputes between the two countries. So popular was Black Tea in Britain that the British Government had to stem the flow of their silver reserves to China. As the Dutch monopolized the tea trade and other countries continued to pay for tea in silver, the English found the lucrative Chinese tea markets closing to them. This problem was solved in 1848 when Robert Fortune, a Scottish botanist successfully smuggled tea plants and Chinese tea experts to India to develop technologies and oversee production to optimize the profits from Black Tea. After many failed attempts, Camellia sinensis was able to grow there but eventually, production of the native Camellia assamica plant was found to be far more lucrative .

In 1874, W.S. Lyle invented the first leaf rolling machine and in 1876, George Reid invented a cutting machine that stripped the leaves from the stems and cut them into short, thin strips. Unlike the carefully hand-picked teas from China, this mechanized “broken tea” was much more economical to produce and ship. From these beginnings, Broken Black Tea from India became a low-cost, high-profit commodity which helped fuel the British Empire of the 18th and 19th centuries and today has become a global beverage staple.

With the resurgence of the Chinese economy and growth of the Chinese tea industry worldwide, discerning tea drinkers around the world are re-discovering the New World of Chinese “Black Tea” flavours which provide the highest quality, depth and complexity of flavour made possible from whole leaves.

Until the invention of Black Tea in the mid 17^th century (Late Ming/Early Ching Dynasty), the majority of tea consumed in China for 2,500 years had been green un-fermented and later, semi-fermented teas. The story is that a passing army entered Fujian Province from Jianxi and camped at a tea factory in the Wuyi Mountain area.  This held up tea production at the factory and after the army left, the leaves produced a tea with an unusual red colour. To recoup the losses from this delay, a farmer looked for a way to accelerate the drying time and save his order. Since the army used all the charcoal in the area which was usually used for drying green tea, he placed the leaves over a smoking fire of pine wood which caused a chemical reaction in the leaves and imparted a distinct smoky and fruity (Long An) flavor to the tea. Lapsang Souchong was born and led the way for the development of a whole family of teas which became very popular in China and a staple in the West - and helped to shape modern history in the process.

There are hundreds of different teas in the Black Tea family and each one is the result of a unique process of exposing picked leaves to air, heat and moisture to facilitate fermentation of the leaves. Like Lapsang Souchong, some are exposed to smoking which imparts an additional complexity of flavor to the tea.

As with any organic material, exposure to these elements stimulates a natural enzymatic breakdown of the leaf cell structure. This chemical breakdown creates new elements such as theaflavins and other elements which were not in the original tea leaves. These fermentation processes which were carefully guarded secrets were perfected over centuries and each process gives a tea its unique aroma and flavor.

Black Tea Manufacturing

The freshly picked leaves are withered for 16 - 18 hours. The leaves are laid on wire mesh in troughs and warm air is blown through them until the leaf moisture content drops from 78 - 82% down to 63 - 73%.

The withered leaf can be processed as Orthodox large leaf tea, or as CTC (crush, tear, curl) tea with tiny leaf particles suitable for tea bags.

Orthodox tea is rolled slowly using traditional rolling tables that mimic the action of hand rolling. This unhurried disruption of the leaf cells causes a slow oxidation of the catechins, due to the realease of a natural leaf enzyme that causes the green catechins to change to orange red polyphenols. Slow oxidation favours aroma and flavour at the expense of intense colour.

CTC processing chops the withered leaf in seconds and initiates such rapid oxidation that the leaf heats up. The CTC process gives the intense colour that teabag brewing requires.

During oxidation, often incorrectly referred to as fermentation, the leaf colour changes from green to coppery red. It takes up to four hours during orthodox manufacture, but only 90 minutes for CTC.

When oxidation is complete, it is arrested by applying heat: this process is often called firing. The oxidised leaf is passed into a hot air dryer for twenty minutes whie the moisture content is reduced to 3% and the familiar black colour of the tea develops. Care has to be taken to maintain the dryer temperature within close limits so that unwanted aromas are not formed.