While tea is one of the most consumed beverages in the world, even among tea, black tea is typically the most popular. There are many different types of black teas ranging from various origins across the world to the different types of black tea production.
So, why choose Nepal Black Tea?
The tea gardens in Nepal, especially Kanchanjangha Tea Estate and Research Center (KTE-RC), are situated in the foothills of Mt. Kanchenjunga, the third highest mountain in the world. Unlike commercially produced teas around the world, all our teas are hand-plucked in the serene hills of eastern Nepal. The climate, elevation, rural pollution free environment and its traditional cultivation method create the most unique teas; ones that are of exceptional taste and quality but are relatively rare and unknown to the world.
Unlike other parts of the world, our tea bushes are quite young (about 40 years old), which is why the floral and fruity notes found in our black teas are unmatched to the black teas anywhere.
Our current black tea process is the same that was used almost 36 years ago. With our classic Nepal black teas, you can taste the multi-generational expertise in tea making. With our new teas, you can experience the same expertise but with the passion of young tea makers!
Teas anywhere in the world are never washed in its production process, therefore, the first time it gets washed it your cup. Because our black teas are all certified organic, they are free from any pesticides or chemicals that might get into your cup.
All our black teas are packed at origin, which means that you, as a customer, are the first person opening the packet of tea after it has been sealed in Nepal. Just imagine how fresh that sounds. Learn more about what makes our Nepal black tea special.
What sets Nepal Tea From Other Organic Tea Brands?
Nepal Tea and our family farm, Kanchanjangha Tea Estate and Research Center, is widely different from any other organic tea brands in many different ways. First and foremost, we’re a social enterprise and we strongly believe that tea is a catalyst for social change. Read the story of how we got started in 1984.
Unlike other tea gardens, our family farm was established with a purpose to get our community out of poverty and we make sure we run Nepal Tea with the same ethos in the US today. We not only provide free housing facilities to any of our full-time farmers who cannot afford one, we also subsidize the daily necessities such as rice, salt, oil to all our farmers through a cooperative that they own. Similarly, we also provide educational scholarships to all our full-time farmers’ children. There are many other projects that we are working on to empower the current generation and educate the next. All of our social impact ground work is done through Nepal Tea Foundation.
Types of Black Tea
We specifically have two different types of pure black teas. Our classic Kanchanjangha Noir and our very special Kumari Gold black tea. While all teas are made from the same plant camellia sinensis, our Kumari Gold features a finer pluck which is then withered, rolled, oxidized and dried in small batches to create the special golden look of the tips. The classic black tea goes through a similar process, it goes through a lot of sorting processes to create multiple different grades of black tea.
We also have two different blends of masala chai black teas. Nepali Breakfast features the classic recipe of chai in Nepal and Kathmandu Cosmos is an experiment into a contemporary blend of some ayurvedic spices.
Is Our Black Tea Caffeinated?
All teas that come from Camilla Sinensis have a varying degree of caffeine, but they all have caffeine. Caffeine is produced by tea plants to protect themselves against other natural enemies of tea plants like bugs. So, the organically processed teas do have some form of caffeine, however, it is almost one-third of a cup of coffee.
Black Tea Bags vs. Black Loose Leaf Tea
With pyramid tea bags there is hardly any difference in the tea since the tea inside the pyramid bags are high-quality loose leaf teas. All of our the tea bags we offer are pyramid tea bags.
On the other hand, the paper tea bags that have some form of dusty particles are a completely separate aspect of tea. While it is not necessarily a bad grade of tea if it is organic, it is just that it does not give you the same flavorful cup as the loose leaf. During the sorting and grading process of teas, the smaller particles that are generally made from the stems, and larger leaves of the tea plant are sorted out to make the fannings grade, which then goes into the tea bags. These will have more strength, body and color but will lack the subtle complex nuanced flavors of loose-leaf teas.
Black Tea Recipes
We have recipes involving black tea on our blog and will continue to update it with more black tea recipes in the future.