Black

India & Himalayan

The family that shaped how most of the world understands black tea: Assam's full-bodied malt built the breakfast-tea market; Darjeeling's delicate first-flush muscatel sits at the opposite end of Indian black tea and is frequently misrepresented; Nilgiri produces a bright, clean brisk style suited to iced tea. Nepal's high-altitude orthodox teas now compete directly with Darjeeling in character. CTC and orthodox processing from the same garden produce categorically different cups, so noting that variable matters for logging.

teabert, the tealytics teapot, keeper of the kettle

This family spans the widest gap in black tea, hearty Assam malt at one end and airy Darjeeling muscatel at the other, and CTC or orthodox matters just as much, because one garden can make both. CTC stands for crush, tear, curl, a description of the process that would sound alarming on any other food label.

Styles in this family

Assam

Assam is the malt backbone of most breakfast blends, and knowing the difference between orthodox Assam and CTC Assam is the knowledge that separates casual…

Assam CTC

Assam CTC is the engine of the global teabag: small, hard, machine-rolled granules (crush, tear, curl) built to dump color, body and briskness into a mug in two…

Darjeeling

The flush system is the organizing fact of Darjeeling, and ignoring it is the most common way to buy the wrong tea. First flush (March-April) is pale, brisk and…

Nilgiri

Nilgiri is the high-grown black tea of the Blue Mountains in Tamil Nadu, southern India: bright, brisk, fragrant, and notably smooth, with a fruity-floral lift…

Nepali

Nepali black tea comes overwhelmingly from the eastern Himalayan hills, above all Ilam, just across the border from Darjeeling, and that proximity is the key…

How it's made

The steps overlap in practice; this is a reading order, not a set of separate stages.