Milk and Assam: Why the Strong Tea Takes It

Assam is the tea built for milk, and there is plain chemistry behind it. Milk's casein binds the tea's tannins before they reach your mouth, softening the pucker, which is why a brisk, full-bodied Assam survives the jug where a delicate tea is drowned by it.

Where Assam Goes

Most Assam never leaves the country, and the blend that says Assam on the tin does not always have any in it. Here is the honest map of where the leaf travels, by weight and measure.

The Assam Tea Stall Is Not a Chai Wallah

Walk up to a roadside tea shop in Assam and you likely will not get milky, spiced chai. You will get ronga saah, black tea with sugar in a small glass tumbler, and a different custom entirely from the chai wallah further west.