The 10 Best English Teas for The Best Afternoon Tea

Whether you fancy hosting a traditional afternoon tea party, or a cup of hot or iced English tea is your beverage of choice then read on! English tea is a broad group of black teas, including English breakfast, afternoon teas and so many more. English teas are often blended from Assam, Ceylon and many other types, but the one thing they have in common is that they suit being served with milk.

Things to Consider Before Buying English Tea

English teas are black teas which are usually rich, full bodied and robust with a sweet citric taste and dark brown colored with a slightly red tint. A black tea is one which has been allowed to fully oxidize (unlike a green tea) before it is heat processed and dried. During oxidation, the cell walls of the tea plant interact with oxygen and this turns the leaves from a green to a brown-black color. Oxidation also alters the flavor of the tea, adding maltiness, fruitiness and sometimes smokiness.

A typical black tea contains around half the amount of caffeine than a cup of coffee and the less time that tea is allowed to steep or brew, the less caffeine it will contain. A cup of tea made with 6 oz of water will usually produce between 20 to 40 mg of caffeine, which will increase to 40 to 100 mg of caffeine when left to steep for four minutes.

Black Tea Grading and Blending

As a rule, the higher the altitude the tea is grown at, the slower its growth and the finer its taste.

Black teas are graded as to whether they are whole leaf or broken leaf. Whole leaf is what is left in the sieve after the tea leaves have been sieved and whole leaf tea takes longer to steep and release its flavor than other grades of tea. Broken leaf is further sorted into pekoe, which is a leaf size rather than type of tea, fannings and dust or fines.

Orange pekoe (pronounced ‘peck-o’) is the broken leaf grading typically used for Sri Lankan and Indian teas rather than Chinese and it is thought the use of the word ‘orange’ related to the marketing of Dutch East India Company imported tea in Holland and Zealand - the branding of ‘orange’ associated it with the Dutch royal family.

Fannings are the pieces of broken leaf about the size of a pin head, and dust or fines is the siftings left from the broken leaf. A broken leaf tea infuses faster and gives a stronger flavor and broken leaf teas are usually used to fill tea bags. Some fannings can be more expensive and have more flavor than cheaper whole leaf teas.

A blended tea is a mix of different teas to give different flavors, colors and aromas. Blends can contain as many as 40 different teas sourced from different estates and regions. Below are some of the teas which often feature in English tea blends and are associated with specific times or types of meal.

Black Breakfast Teas

Assam tea is grown in India, Burma and Tibet at elevations of between 3000 and 7000 ft. Assam brews to a darker color than Chinese teas and it has a deeper, maltier and more pronounced taste. Although typical in English breakfast blends, the spicy and rich malt flavor means Assam can be drunk in the afternoon, or indeed any other time of the day!

Ceylon teas can vary greatly depending on where they are grown in Sri Lanka, as although this is a small island, it has much variation in its elevations. However, most Ceylon teas are generally full bodied, bold and brisk with some notes of chocolate, citrus or spice.

The traditional English breakfast tea is full bodied and blended, usually from smaller leaf teas grown in Sri Lanka and India. It can also contain leaves from Kenya and China. An English breakfast tea should go well with milk and sugar and should suit a traditional and hearty English breakfast.

Interestingly, the name English breakfast tea was though to have been coined in the US in 1843 when an English immigrant tea merchant in New York City started blending tea which sold for 50 cents per pound.

An Irish breakfast tea is stronger and more complex than an English breakfast tea and is usually a blend of Assam and Ceylon.

Black Luncheon Teas

Darjeeling has a flavor sometimes described as honeyed fruit and it also has a lovely aroma. As Darjeeling availability is limited, it is usually blended. Darjeeling is well suited as a traditional afternoon tea and its complex, yet subtle taste goes well with spicier foods. China black tea also has a mild flavor and is suitable for serving with spicy foods.

Black Dinner Teas

Keemun is a Chinese black tea which has a full bodied, rich and strong flavor. Keemun also has smoky overtones and a floral aroma which compliments many Asian foods. Kenyan teas usually have a brisk flavor and rich flowery aroma that suit meals with poultry or wild meats.

Although oolongs can vary in their oxidation levels, some oolongs are almost fully oxidized which puts them with black teas rather than greens. An oolong should usually be served black and its peachy taste suits spicier meals.

Hosting Afternoon Tea

Having afternoon tea, or a tea party is an ideal way to get together with friends, celebrate a baby shower, birthday, anniversary or any other type of celebration.

Usually served around 4:00 p.m., afternoon tea was made fashionable in the nineteenth century when evening meals would be served around 8:00 p.m. which left a long gap between lunch(eon) and dinner. The Seventh Duchess of Bedford along with her friends is thought to have started the tea trend and even today, around 165 million cups of tea are drunk every day in Britain.

Otherwise known as ‘having tea’ not ‘taking tea’ or ‘high tea’ (which was a traditionally a larger meal eaten around 5:00 p.m.), a traditional afternoon tea comprises of a pot of loose tea - tea bags would be frowned up on - alongside a pot of hot water, teacups, saucers, milk jug, sugar bowl, tea strainer and other accessories, including napkins for spreading on laps.

If you are hosting a more formal and larger tea party, then you may want to provide three or four tea pots of different teas.

A selection of small or finger sandwiches should be served, alongside cakes and scones. A scone is an individual cake which is broken up and typically eaten with jam and clotted cream. When scones are served at afternoon tea, this may also be called a ‘cream tea’.

The tea should be poured into teacups by one person only and then milk and sugar passed around to add as required, or if you have brewed teas such as Earl Grey or lapsang souchong, then lemon slices should be passed around as well.

When you add milk to tea, its tannins are fixed by the casein in the milk and this causes tea to lose its astringency. Milk may be added before tea is poured instead of after; especially if using porcelain teacups as the milk can help stop the porcelain from cracking when the hot tea is poured in.

Drinking tea with milk seems to date back to around the 1680s when a French writer, Madame de Sevigne, suggested that an ill friend drank milk, but because the temperature of the milk would be unfavorable, she should add hot tea. By the middle of the eighteenth century, tea with milk was the custom in both France and England.

Tea should be stirred by moving the teaspoon back and forth (from 6:00 p.m. to 12:00 p.m.) rather than in large circles and avoiding clinking the spoon against the teacup. Once you have finished stirring, the spoon can be placed on the saucer at the side of the teacup. You can then place your napkin on your lap before holding your cup and saucer up and over the napkin and sip your tea while keeping your little finger firmly down! In between sips, the teacup should be placed back onto the saucer.

When sandwiches are passed around, it is acceptable to just put one sandwich onto your plate and however small it may be, you should eat it in more than one bite.

Once you have finished eating and drinking, your napkin should be left unfolded to the left side of your place setting or cup and saucer once set down on the table.

Conclusion

In this article we have looked at the flavor of black teas such as Assam, Ceylon and Darjeeling which are often found in English teas, as well as how these teas are graded. We also considered what to look for when choosing an English tea; not least that it should be a blend which can be served with milk. We have also had a quick look at some of the etiquette involved in having afternoon tea.