Premium Quality Loose Leaf Black Tea

Black tea or ‘red’ as it’s known in China forms the basis of the traditional British cuppa. These loose leaf black tea leaves are fully oxidised and have a rich complex flavour.

Our top recommendations in this category are:

Yunnan Golden Tips

Ceylon

Earl Grey

Frequently Asked Questions

What health properties are associated with black tea?
I’m pregnant can I drink tea?
Are there any calories in tea?
What does OP and BOP and all that mean?
Does tea dehydrate you?

What health properties are associated with black tea?
Scientist have shown that drinking three or more cups of tea a day decreases your risk of coronary heart disease.  They have also shown that anything between 1-6 cups of black tea a day will increase your antioxidant levels, any more than this and positive impacts from antioxidant gains maybe offset by the effect of excessive caffeine consumption (click here to learn more).

Black tea has a slightly positive effect on bone mineral density and consumption appears to produce a rapid increase in alertness and a self-reported improvement in mood.

The classic British cuppa, which is typically brewed with 2 grams of dried tea leaves, contains around 200mg of flavoniods per cup.  Green teas contain more catechins, whilst black tea through the process of oxidisation contain more complex thearubigins and theflavins.  Drinking three cups of tea per day for two weeks will increase blood flavonoid concentration levels by 25%2.   This research was supported by another research in Boston 2001.

I’m pregnant can I drink tea?
Yes, in moderation.  According to Nawrot, (2003) the safe maximum daily intake of caffeine for pregnant women is 300 mg (400 mg for the rest of us).  In a typical cup of black tea (235 ml, 2 grams of dried tea) there are 40 mg of caffeine or 17 mg/100 ml FSA (2004).

Are there any calories in tea?
There are no calories in tea!  However, there are calories in the sugar and milk that you may chose to add to your tea.

What does OP and BOP and all that mean?
These are grades of tea typically associated with tea from India and Sri Lanka
The grades for whole leaf orthodox black tea (in ascending order) are:

• OP - Orange Pekoe - Main grade in tea production. Can consist of long wiry leaf without tips.
• OP sup - Orange Pekoe Superior - Primarily from Indonesia, tea is much the same as above.
  
•  FOP - Flowery Orange Pekoe - High quality tea with a long leaf and few tips, considered second grade in Assam, Dooars and Bangladesh and first grade in China.
  
• FOP1 - Flowery Orange Pekoe First Grade Leaves - As above but with only the highest quality leaves in the F.O.P classification
• GFOP1 - Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe First Grade Leaves- Higher proportion of tip than FOP Top grade.
  
• TGFOP - Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe - Tea with the highest proportion of tip; Main grade in Darjeeling and Assam.
  
• TGOP1 - Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe - As above, but with only the highest quality leave in the T.G.F.O.P classification.
• FTGFOP - Finest Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe - Highest quality tea in the world. Often hand processed and produced at only the best plantations. Roughly one quarter tips.

A joke among tea aficionados is that "FTGFOP" stands for "Far Too Good For Ordinary People".
Chah’s teas are typically FTGFOP.

If you see a ‘B’ as a grade of tea it means the leaves are broken.  ‘F’ means the leaves are fannings.  ‘D’ refers to Dust.

Does tea dehydrate you?

Although caffeine is a diuretic the net intake of water in tea out weighs the diuretic effect of the caffeine.  Therefore tea will not dehydrate you.

Boston 2001 (Stephen J. Duffy, MB, BS, PhD; John F. Keaney Jr, MD; Monika Holbrook, MA; Noyan Gokce, MD; Peter L. Swerdloff, BA; Balz Frei, PhD, "Short- and Long-Term Black Tea Consumption Reverses Endothelial Dysfunction in Patients With Coronary Artery Disease"; Joseph A. Vita, MD From Evans Department of Medicine and Whitaker Cardiovascular Institute, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Mass, and Linus Pauling Institute, Oregon State University, Corvallis (B.F.).)

1. (Nawrot P, Jordan S, Eastwood J, Rotstein J, Hugenholtz A, Feeley M (2003). Effects of caffeine on human health. Food Addit Contam 20, 1–30.),

2. ( Hollman PCH, Van het Hof KH, Tijburg LBM, Katan MB (2001). Addition of milk does not affect the absorption of flavonols from tea in man. Free Radic Res 34, 297–300.).