The finest Assam Tea available

It’s called Assam A, getting its name from the state of Assam in India, one of the world's largest tea-growing regions and it makes for a lovely cup of tea.

Taste

Assam loose leaf tea from this region tend to have a full bodied, rich, biscuit and malty flavour. This type of black tea is favoured by people who like to drink their tea with milk. Historically teas from this region have formed the base of breakfast blends as they provide the strength required in smaller and smaller amounts of tea. Historically they had a very full, almost pungent flavour but have subsequently mellowed into the sweeter caramel characteristics we see today. Its perfect for a proper english breakfast with the option of milk and sugar.

Origin of Assam Tea

Assam is one of the main tea origins and one of the most famous in the world. It is defined by the Bramaputra river which all production in the area centres around.

Ingredients

Camellia sinensis var. assamica, A-Grade (superior quality) : FTGFOP Fine Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe.

Recommended preparation for the best assam loose leaf tea

·       1 heaped teaspoon per cup

·       Boiling water infusion

·       4mins minimum

·       Pre heated pot

·       Add a splash of milk if desired

Heritage

In the late part of the 1700s and early part of the 1800s Briton had become increasingly worried about the dependence on china for its tea consumption. This sparked numerous attempts by the British to smuggle tea out of china to in order to begin production for themselves and thus reduce their dependence on the China. This didn’t succeed as the British may have wanted, and their many attempts failed to create a viable industry to rival the Chinese.

Robert Bruce, who was an ex-Major in the Bengal Artillery and a Scottish explorer, came to the Assam region in 1822 and visited the Singhpo. The Singhpo who were a somewhat dominant people in the area had a custom of drinking infusions from a native plant that looked suspiciously like the tea plant Robert had seen in China. In 1823, he returned to the area and met with the chief of the Singhpo. He wanted to create a friendship with the Sangpo so that he could create a long-term relationship and have access to their tea leaves well into the future. He was allowed to take away from the meeting plants and seeds of the plant. Unfortunately he died the year after in 1824 but he did succeed in opening high quality Assam to the world’s great tea industry, today famous for the best assam black tea you can buy, loose or in tea bags.

The Assam region of the world is almost annexed from the main part of India and is surrounded on all sides. China to the north, Myanmar to the east, Bangladesh to the south and Bhutan to the North West. As it is so far east of the main of India the sun rises an hour earlier there. In order not to lose time in the region which is valuable for harvesting Assam Tea follows “Garden time“ which is an hour ahead of Indian Standard Time.