The Ultimate Guide to Black and Fermented Tea
Updated: Sep 19
Following my last post on green tea, I wanted to make this next post on my other favorite type of tea which is black tea. I love black tea because it is used to make chai, a beverage that is consumed daily in my family and most simply consists of black tea and milk. I also wanted to include fermented tea in this post which is a type of tea generally associated with China because it is the country that produces by far the most fermented tea, making it somewhat mysterious in Western countries. Keep reading for the ultimate guide to black and fermented tea, from what they are to different types, to how they are prepared!
What are Black and Fermented Tea?
As I mentioned in my previous post, each type of tea has a unique processing method. For black tea, these processing steps include withering, rolling, oxidizing and drying. First withering is done which involves leaving the leaves in the sun or a warm ventilated room to remove moisture from the leaves. Afterwards, rolling is done to breakdown the leaves a bit which sets the stage for optimal oxidation. Oxidation is the key step in black tea production and involves chemical reactions that darken the color of the tea leaves and give black teas their flavors. In the case of black tea, the tea leaves are considered "fully oxidized", meaning only after oxidation has been considered to have fully run its course are the tea leaves dried. Drying can be done in a variety of ways including using an oven, leaving tea leaves in the sun or heating over charcoal.
For fermented tea withering is done just as with black tea but based on my reading fixing is generally done afterwards. This is the method by which the enzymes that cause oxidation are killed through rapid heating, as is done with green tea to prevent oxidation from occurring. This rapid heating is commonly done in a pan, also referred to as pan-firing. Afterwards, rolling is done just as with black tea but after that since the leaves are fixed instead of oxidation, fermentation is initiated.
Fermentation is the process by which microorganisms, like bacteria and yeasts, chemically breakdown the tea. During this process oxidation may occur as well through the activity of the microorganisms but this is encompassed in the fermentation process which is why this step is just referred to as fermentation. This can be initiated in a variety of ways including by; microorganisms present on the tea leaves, microorganisms in the area around the tea leaves, started cultures, or the addition of previously fermented tea.
One important distinction to note here is that in China, and other parts of Asia, fermented tea is actually referred to as black tea and black tea is referred to as red tea. For the sake of this post I am using Western classification norms but if you are ever buying tea be aware of this difference in classification systems!
Types of Black Tea
India is one of the largest producers of black tea in the world and happens to produce some of the most famous black teas. These include teas like Assam and Darjeeling.
Assam is the largest tea producing region in India and compared to Darjeeling is generally less expensive. It is generally used to make chai or in other blends like Earl Grey (Assam, Darjeeling, Ceylon, Bergamot peel/oil) or "masala blends" (black tea with spices) due to its strong flavor. This is also why it is most commonly processed using the CTC (crush tear curl) method which is a processing method that crushes the tea into uniform pellets that are convenient for tea bags and quickly give a dark brew.
Darjeeling is more expensive and more commonly prepared on its own, consumed with or without milk and sugar. There is four main types of Darjeeling tea of which two are most common, first flush and second flush. First flush is actually more of an oolong tea because it is generally only partially oxidized so as to give it more of a green/oolong tea flavor compared to black. Second flush on the other hand is "fully" oxidized to make it a typical black tea. This is definitely something interesting to keep in mind if you are ever buying Darjeeling tea! It may also be used in blends like Earl Grey, as mentioned above.
Ceylon, the former name of Sri Lanka, is also the name given to tea that comes from Sri Lanka. While there are a variety of teas grown in Sri Lanka, Ceylon tea is often associated with black tea because 95% of the tea grown in Sri Lanka is black tea. Depending on the type of Ceylon black tea it may be consumed on its own or incorporated into English Breakfast or Earl Grey tea.
Rounding out the top three black tea producers in the world is Kenya which produces almost exclusively black tea that is processed using the CTC method. This makes the tea ideal for blends and tea bags. Something that I didn't know before researching for this post is that I actually drink Kenyan black tea everyday! The black tea that I use daily for chai is called Tapal Danedar from the Tapal Tea company. I personally think that Tapal Danedar is the best black tea for chai that I have tried by a significant margin and it is now the most popular tea in Pakistan, surpassing Lipton after starting from a stall in the bazaar. When trying to find where the tea for Tapal Danedar is sourced I found this article that talks about how when Tapal Tea first started the sourced from Ceylon (Sri Lanka) like most companies but later released Tapal Danedar which was sourced from Kenya. Tapal Danedar was an instant hit with the people in Pakistan because the Kenyan black tea is apparently stronger than the Ceylon black tea! Despite much weaker margins on their Kenyan sourced tea, they kept selling it and can attribute their now dominant market share to this decision. I thought this story was so interesting and would love to try Kenyan black tea from another company now!
While China mostly produces green tea and only 6% of their tea production is black tea, they are still considered to have the largest variety of black teas of any country. These teas typically originate from Fujian, Yunnan or Anhui provinces of China. Interestingly, until recently, black tea was not popular in China and the distinction on black tea (or red tea in China) did not exist prior to the 1800s. Prior to the mid-1800s, essentially all tea exported to the West was from China as this is the birthplace of tea. Most other countries hadn't yet started production of tea at this point, for example, the British only introduced tea to India in ~1850 to introduce competition to the Chinese market. In the early-1700s China mostly exported green tea but also started exporting some oxidized tea from the Wu Yi Mountains in Fujian Province which was given the name "Bohea" (a rather odd transliteration of Wu Yi) tea by the British. The British enjoyed this oxidized tea and it quickly became the dominant tea export to the British from China by the mid-1700s. Eventually, black/red tea was given its name in the 1800s and grew in popularity around the world, being commonly consumed with milk.
Today, the most famous black teas from Fujian Province appear to be the Lapsang Souchong teas which are smoked black teas. These teas have a smoky flavor but apparently aren't very bitter so they can be brewed quite strongly and enjoyed with or without milk. Tea originating from Yunnan Province is collectively referred to as Yunnan red tea, a literal translation of the Chinese name Dianhong, and is known for its subtle flavor with little astringency. Perhaps the most famous Chinese black tea though is Keemun (a common transliteration but less accurate than the alternative Qimen) black tea. This tea is the most commonly featured, and usually the only, black tea on lists naming the top 10 famous teas of China. This type of tea is generally not very astringent and has woody, smoky, floral and slightly fruity notes. I have never had Chinese black tea so I am very excited to try it sometime! Hopefully I can find some at a local Chinese tea shop!
Types of Fermented Tea
Nearly all of the fermented tea in the world is produced in China and it isn't very common in North America so it is likely that not many people here know much about it. Interestingly, I had heard about fermented tea and noticed it being sold at a local Chinese grocery store so I decided to pick some up and give it a try! At the time, I was not a fan whatsoever but in retrospect I have no idea how the quality was or if I brewed it properly.
The fermented tea I purchased is called Pu'er tea and is seemingly by far the most common type of fermented tea in Canada. In fact, I thought that fermented tea and Pu'er tea were synonymous at the time because when you look up fermented tea you get search results that use the term synonymously with Pu'er tea! After my current research I know now that this is not the case and in fact there are even two main types of Pu'er tea. Sheng Pu'er, or raw Pu'er, is a type of Pu'er tea that is left to naturally oxidize and ferment, one of the few fermented teas that is developed using this process. Shu Pu'er tea on the other hand is pile-fermented in a process called wet-piling that piles the tea with wet cloths to promote faster fermentation. This is the most common method of fermenting teas today. Both of these teas come from Pu'er Mao Cha which is the unfinished Pu'er tea that has been fixed, rolled and dried but notably not fixed as at high a temperature as other teas to allow for some oxidation later on.
While Yunnan province is famous for Pu'er tea, the province that produces the most fermented tea in China is actually Hunan province. Compared to black/red tea which is a relatively new style of tea, fermented tea has been consumed in Hunan province for over 1400 years! Hunan fermented tea starts with semi-finished dark tea (Hei Mao Cha) and is then typically packed into bricks. One famous variety of Hunan fermented tea is Fu Zhuan Cha, notable for its presence of the fungi Eurotium cristatum. This fungi is thought to have medicinal benefits in Chinese medicine and there has been research into this fungi as a potential probiotic! Other popular fermented tea producing regions include Sichuan province, famous for fermented teas containing stems and twigs, and Anhui province, famous for Lu An Hei Cha which is a basket fermented tea.
Fermented tea is also produced in Japan. The most notable of these teas is Goishicha, Awabancha and Bancha Batabatacha. I recently visited Japan and in my research found that Goishicha and Awabancha are made on the island of Shikoku which isn't very popular for foreign tourists but I had the opportunity to visit and absolutely loved it! If I get the opportunity to visit again I would love to try these fermented teas.
How to Prepare Black and Fermented Tea
Both black tea and fermented tea are typically recommended to be steeped at high temperatures relative to other types of tea, 85-100 degrees Celsius for black tea and 95-100 degrees Celsius for fermented tea. Both also have similar steeping time recommendations of 2-5 minutes. Keep in mind that all of these recommendations are general guidelines for loose leaf tea that will vary dramatically based on the specific variety, how it is processed, etc. Additionally, it is not common practice to steep black tea leaves multiple times but fermented tea can be steeped again multiple times, up to ten times for some types!
Also, some of you may be wondering how to prepare South Asian chai. For those curious I have an entire blog post on how to make chai! I highly recommend preparing this recipe with Tapal Danedar which is the chai I mentioned earlier and my favorite brand.
The Ultimate Guide to Black and Fermented Tea
I hope you all enjoyed this post and gained some insight into the very interesting world of black and fermented teas. As someone who loves chai, I am so excited to try some other black teas! Fermented tea is also so interesting and I am glad I could shed some light on it because I found the information online to be pretty limited. On that note, I relied almost entirely on the books that I mentioned in my previous post for the information in this post as well. These book are; "The Tea Book" by Linda Gaylard, "Tea: A User's Guide" by Tony Gebely, and "The Story of Tea" by Mary Lou Heiss. Definitely checkout these books if you want to learn more about tea because they are such amazing resources!
For more foodie content make sure to checkout my other blog posts and make sure to checkout the previous blog post in this series on green tea. Also checkout my social media platforms for all kinds of foodie and travel content. That is all for this post, I hope you all enjoyed it, have an amazing day, and drink some delicious tea today!
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