What does black tea taste like?
What black tea tastes like varies profoundly depending on the region it is grown and the maker who crafts it.
In a great black tea, crafted with love by a skilled maker, you will find an extraordinary range of flavours. These include, but are not limited to:
- sweet caramels
- tropical fruits
- flowers
- silky chocolate
- malty richness
- elegant tannins
- roasted nuts
- honey
But it is also the aromatics that are vital to the taste. A great black tea also has an incredible "nose".
The flavours and quality of black tea can range from the comforting background to the day or the most exquisite moment. Its flavour range is wider than most people expect, and far more interesting than the tea bag has led many of us to believe.
The taste of tea bags v crafted loose leaf?
- The taste of industrial black teabags might be much of a muchness - the dominant flavour being bitter tannins. If you have only experienced industrially processed black tea you might think that the tannins are the only flavour of black tea.
- A beautifully crafted black leaf tea is so profoundly rich that its potential range of flavours are almost impossible to describe. Tannin is just a part of the flavour profile of all black tea, as it is in red wine. With skilfully crafting, it is part of a rich complexity of flavours.
To choose the best tasting black tea - like the best wine, or the best cheese, or the best anything, look for great makers. We have spent over twenty years travelling the globe and seeking out the best.
