Guides
Brewing Assam
The Authority's standing method for Assam: boiling water, a measured dose of leaf, and a few minutes left alone. This is the complete reference, covering water, leaf, time, milk, the second steep, CTC versus orthodox, and the test for a properly brisk cup.
Estates and Terroir
Assam tea grows on a hot, low, river-fed floodplain in northeast India. The Brahmaputra valley's heat, monsoon rain, and alluvial soil are what make the leaf malty and strong. This is the terroir, the two valleys, the estate system, and what a single garden's name on the tin actually certifies.
Assam Tea Grades
A grade names the size of the made leaf and how much golden tip rides in it, not the flavor. The complete reference: how a tea is graded, the four sizes, the orthodox lettered alphabet, the CTC codes, and what a grade does and does not promise.
The History of Assam Tea
The complete record of Assam tea: the wild assamica plant noted in 1823, the British annexation that opened the valley, the first eight chests sold in London in 1839, the Assam Company, the CTC machine that put Assam in the world's tea bags, and the region that grew into the largest tea producer on earth.
Assam Tea
The canonical reference on Assam tea: the malty, brisk, full-bodied black tea grown in the Brahmaputra valley of northeast India from Camellia sinensis var. assamica. What it is, where it grows, how it is made and graded, and where it ends up.