Black Tea of Dobra Asheville North Carolina

Turkish Nepalese Chinese Kenyan Sri Lankan Indian

Tea Pluckers of Darjeeling, India

Black tea is fully oxidized. Fresh, harvested leaves are gently rolled by machine and placed on large flat screens to wither. This takes away about 60& of the plants moisture. A deep enzymatic oxidation of the freed polyphenols starts to take place once the withered tea leaves are placed on flat tables to fully oxidize. The tea is finally dried quickly at high heat.

The most well known and common black teas are cultivated in India. In the regions of Darjeeling and Assam, local tea planters cultivate refined varieties of the Chinese and Assam tea plants known for their high quality.

The Chinese cloned their tea bushes of Camellia Sinensis to the rolling, high hills of India where tea thrives in the pronounced spring, monsoon and summer seasons.

Camellia Sinensis Assamica was first discovered by Robert Bruce, a Scottish adventurer, who found the plant growing "wild" in Assam while trading in the region. He then began processing the tea based on new traditions.

In China, "black tea" is a classified as pu er tea. Hong Cha, is known in as "red tea" which we call black tea in the western world. The majority of black tea in China is harvested only for export. Other cultures of black tea producing countries such as Kenya, Turkey and Nepal have become well known on the tea market. Although green tea has recently seen a revival on the tea market, due to its purported health benefits, black tea still accounts for over ninety percent of all tea sold in the West.