It's All About Tea — black tea

Lapsang Souchong – the world's first black tea – is pine-smoked, wild-grown, and is like nothing else. Many love its campfire depth immediately. Others need the non-smoky version as an entry point. This guide covers what Lapsang Souchong actually is, how it's produced in Tongmu Village's Qing Lou smoking houses, and what sets the smoky and non-smoky versions apart. (Read more)

Japanese black tea is referred to as koucha in Japan. Like hong cha, koucha translates as red tea and is red tea and not black tea. Wakoucha refers specifically to black tea produced in Japan. "Wa" referring to Japan in this context. The properties of Japanese black tea are the same as those of hong cha — it is a fully oxidized tea made from the leaves of camellia sinensis.

In a country that predominantly drinks green tea, black tea production has always taken up a tiny part of the Japanese tea production industry. (Read more) 

Chinese black tea – Hong Cha (红茶) – is one of the world's most widely produced teas, but it has a different name, a different history, and a fundamentally different character from the black teas most Westerners know. For centuries, Chinese farmers produced hong cha almost exclusively for export. It wasn't until 2005, when Jin Jun Mei sparked a domestic tea renaissance, that Chinese black tea became a tea for Chinese people, too. This is a guide to its history, its types, and what makes it worth drinking.  (Read more)

Does black tea have high caffeine? Not necessarily – and the common belief that green tea is always lower in caffeine isn't true either. Here's what actually determines caffeine levels in your cup. (Read more)

“Black Tea” as it's called in the West, or "Hong Cha" ("Red Tea") as it is called in Asia is well-known as an afternoon tea for it’s mellow and sweet flavor. According to legend, the Wuyi Mountains in northern Fujian, China, is where black tea was first developed. One legend tells of passing soldiers using covered piles of tea leaves as mattresses, thus bruising the leaves and creating oxidation, which gives black tea its dark color. (Read more)