Black tea is something of a chameleon; it blends well with fruits, spices, nuts, flowers, roots, and rhizomes. Of Camellia sinensis’s incarnations, black tea is known for being the best at standing up to milk and sugar. It also never said no to a little cold with up to 85% of all tea in the United States being iced tea. There is a black tea infusion for every season, and for good reason. As a fully oxidized product, black tea manifests a complex set of flavors that, when blended by a deft hand, harmonize with just about everything.
By micro-blending and packaging small batches, we assure you get the best loose leaf tea from each harvest. This also allows us to mix our teas with unique and interesting botanicals, spices and premium flavors for extraordinary flavor combinations not found in typical tea blends. Our recommendation; be adventurous! You might surprise yourself and fall in love with the unexpected.
Black tea is known for its caffeine and comes with the ups and downs of the mild stimulant. Also, as ever with Camellia sinensis, black tea is being researched, with preliminary work showing it helps to improve cholesterol, decrease blood pressure, and promote gut health.
Black teas taste best when brewed between 205° and 212° Fahrenheit. Our wide offering of unique black tea blends results in different optimal temperatures, so it’s best to experiment to find the best temperature range. As a rule, black tea leaves should steep for at least 3-5 minutes and will grow stronger and more robust with each additional minute of steeping time. You can also refer to our packaging for specific brewing instructions to complement each tea. But most importantly, do what makes you happy!