Black tea (or red tea, as it is known in China and Japan) is what most people in the West think of when they think of tea. It is made from camellia sinensis leaves which have been allowed to blacken by oxidation before being dried, in a reaction which greatly increases their caffeine content, while destroying some but by no means all of the antioxidant flavonoids which give tea its anti-cancer properties (although whether these compounds retain their beneficial effects when the tea is drunk with milk has been called into question by experiments measuring antioxidant levels in the blood of tea-drinking subjects). A cup of black tea has about three times as much caffeine as the same amount of green tea, about twice as much as a cup of oolong and about half as much as a cup of really strong black coffee. Oxidising the tea also allows it to keep for much longer, which was an important consideration in the days when it could take many weeks or months for the tea to make it to Europe from its origins in the far East; this is probably the main reason black tea caught on in Europe in a way that green tea and oolong never quite have, although both are now gaining popularity with today's faster methods of transport.

Black tea can be consumed on its own, although the bitterness and astringency of all but the lightest of black teas take some getting used to. Darjeeling and scented black teas aside, it is more usual to drink it with milk, which does a lot to take the edge off it, or with lemon juice, which replaces some of the cheek-puckering astringency with citrus sourness. With lemon, it can be chilled and served as iced tea, enhanced by herbs like mint. In some parts of the world basil is often added. Black tea is also available flavoured with vanilla, ginger, apple, toffee and any number of other aromas. In India black tea is brewed strong and milky with spices like cardamom, cloves and ginger to make what we have come to know as chai in the English-speaking world, although originally the word just means tea.

Sometimes the phrase black tea is used specifically to refer to tea without milk, in the same way black coffee means coffee without milk; this can be the source of some confusion, especially when people think of green tea or oolong as 'black' because they are drunk without milk...

Kinds of black tea:

• Assam (rich, dark, slightly malty)
• Ceylon (a popular medium-strength variety)
• Darjeeling (light, with a slightly flowery aroma; also available as a green tea)
• Earl Grey (light tea with a citrus flavour from oil of bergamot)
• English Breakfast (one of the classic blends used to make English tea)
• Keemun (smooth Chinese black tea)
• Jasmine tea (often pouchong or another non-black tea, but sometimes made with black; scented with jasmine flowers)
• Lady Grey (like Earl Grey with added oils of lemon, orange and so on)
• Lapsang Souchong (black tea infused with pine smoke)
• Pekoe (short, medium-grade leaves)
• Russian Caravan (a rich, hearty blended tea)
• Tippy Golden Flowery Broken Orange Pekoe (tea grading taken to an extreme)
• Yunnan* (strong but fragrant Chinese tea)

Ways of taking black tea:

• Chai (Indian spiced tea - high chai is chai with cannabis)
• Devon cream tea (with scones & jam)
• English tea (black tea, usually a blend, served with milk and often sugar; see PG Tips, Tetley, etc.)
• How to make a decent cup of tea (opinion is divided...)
• Iced tea (chilled black tea, often served with lemon, mint and other flavourings - see also sweet tea, fruited iced tea, Italian iced tea and peach iced tea)
• Lemon tea (either with lemon juice squeezed in and perhaps slices, in the Russian style, or lemon flavouring the dry tea)
• Russian tea (often taken with jam)
• Yak butter tea (Tibetan, salty)
• Camel tea (black tea and Drambuie; Twisted Tea is another alcoholic tea drink)
• See also Things to Put in Tea

* not noded

I've always been frustrated by the fact that tea is dismissed as a boring, ordinary drink in the US while coffee has risen to the heights of a luxurious item. It's pretty cool that Starbucks has educated the American consumer about coffee as a diverse drink that can take multiple shapes, be that of a macchiato, a latte, an expresso, or a mocha. Unfortunately, most people aren't aware that tea can also offer a variety of drinks that are very different in taste and texture.

I think the basic delights of tea are well known to everyone. It is a hot drink that offers a purifying experience with its metallic, acidic, but slighty tangy taste that cleanses the palate of its post-dinner spicy, sweet, and sour sensations. The bitter taste of each sip overwhelms all other tastes and sweeps them away; the only other drink that is similarly cleansing is water itself.

However, that up there was only the description of your classical black tea. But tea does other taste experiences. For example, one of the best hidden secrets of the tea world is the Keemun black tea that tastes as sweet as cocoa. That is a totally different experience from the classical black tea. You see, in this case, the tea doesn't serve as a post-meal cleansing drink with a metallic, acidic, bitter taste but as a sweet desert. The downside of course is that the sipping experience gets killed in the process. A sweet-tasting like Keemun encourages a person to drink it down quickly as all pleasant tastes do. You do need a bitter, acidic classic tea for slow sipping. Not to mention the fact that if you like to take sweets along with your tea, you never want the tea itself to compete with the taste of the pastry.

But in case you are looking for other things, you can also find a tea that's as spicy and musky as tobacco. Its one of those invigorating tastes that is reminiscent of char-broiled things and smells like tar or wood consumed by the flames in a fireplace. I am talking about the Russian Caravan tea, a mix of Lapsang Souchon and added flavors . Its burned, musky aura is so strong that the teapot that you make it in will retain the smell for years to come. I do adore this tea, but for the love of god, if anyone brews it in my teapot while staying at my house, I will throw the teapot away and make the guest buy me a new one.

Now, the three types of tea experiences I've described - acidic and bitter, sweet and chocolaty, burning and spicy - produce endless combinations. The teas that combine these various experiences are the ones that are most interesting. Malty Assam teas have the taste of licorice while retaining a very intense bitterness. A chinese black tea, Yunnan is a fascinating one because it is rather acidic and metallic but also has a slight spicy and burning note. Yalta Ceylon is also acidic and bitter, but this taste is drowned by creamy and flowery notes. Sometimes it tastes really sweet and vanilla-like, but at other times acidic and bitter. That of course depends on how you brew it. Other Ceylon varities also have the sweet aspect to them, but it's very muted.

The brewing is the secret factor that determines which taste will dominate in a tea. For a Yalta Ceylon tea, a 5 minute long brew will bring out the acidic/bitter taste and weaken the vanilla-like, creamy one. That's a rule that applies to most teas in generals. Longer brewing creates more bitter, acidic teas and is therefore appropriate for those times when you want to sip your tea slowly and have it purify your palate of left-over dinner tastes. Of course, longer brewing also releases a lot of caffeine into tea, so much that a strongly-brewed tea can often rival and overpass coffee in its caffeine content. The very sweet teas like Keemun often retain their sweetness despite long-brewing.

I will close this write-up with a mention of one type of black tea that seems to have the most complicated taste pattern: Darjeeling. I am not even sure that it's right to classify it as a black tea, but it has the amazing quality of combining a strong bitter and acidic taste with equally strong flowery/sweet taste, as well as with a burning/musty taste. So, here's a tea that combines all three tea experiences outlined in this node. I don't drink it often myself because it's contradictory tastes don't jibe too well with each other and confuse my poor, unsophisticated palate that yearns for something more harmonious. But, it's perfect for one of those days when you are looking for an exciting tea.