Assam Tea

Assam tea comes from the Brahmaputra valley, where the native Camellia sinensis var. assamica grows wild in the forest. The plant was recognised by the British in the 1820s and 1830s, and the first Assam teas were sent to London in the later 1830s. The plantation industry that followed was built on the labour of workers brought from central and eastern India, whose descendants still pick the leaf today. Assam is now the largest tea-growing region of India, and its leaf is the foundation of most of the chai drunk across the country.

Assam is a black tea made from the large-leaved assamica variety of Camellia sinensis, plucked as two leaves and a bud and withered, rolled, fully oxidised and fired. Most of the crop is made by the CTC method (crush, tear, curl), which yields small hard pellets that brew fast, dark and strong. Orthodox leaf, rolled whole, is made in smaller quantity and carries golden tips where the bud is retained. The liquor is deep amber to red-brown, malty and full-bodied, and it takes milk and sugar without losing its shape. The first flush of spring is lighter, and the second flush of early summer is the richer, with the tippy teas prized by buyers.

Assam is drunk with milk and sugar, alone or with spice as masala chai, and taken at breakfast and in the afternoon with biscuits, rusks, toast, pakoras and salted snacks. The tannin and body of the leaf cut through fat and the richness of milk, so the cup stays firm beside fried or buttered food. A thin tea would vanish under milk, and the strength of Assam is the structural reason it is chosen for this use.