In my last post, “Assam vs. Darjeeling” I said this. “So, what is the Chinese variety of tea doing in the mountains of India? It was stolen.” Let me tell you some of the most intriguing and appalling events in tea history. Settle in. In 1836 John Barrow wrote in …
Assam tea and Darjeeling tea are both black teas from India, right, so, not much difference then? Whoa! A whole world of difference, actually. Let’s review. Real ‘tea’ comes from a white flowering evergreen shrub called camellia sinensis. There are two tea varieties, camellia sinensis sinensis and camellia sinensis assamica. …
