ASSAM BLACK TEA

This is the world's largest tea-producing area but most of its very best teas are picked at only the height of the season in mid-June and amount to a tiny proportion of its very large crop.

The best Assam tea is rich and malty with a great depth of flavour and aroma of toffee and juicy raisins. The larger, tippy leaf teas tend to be smoother with broken leaf teas giving a darker, more brisk infusion. Assam is a traditional tea that is ideal with milk. Try it with sugar and its almost a pudding!

We try around 1500 samples just to select our range!

  1. As low as £5.00
    This is our, and possibly the world's, strongest tea! Intense, hefty yet surprisingly smooth. It has a doughy note to its aroma with a heavy, malty, spicy taste. It brews very quickly and to a gloriously deep red colour.
  2. As low as £17.00
    This batch has a delicate leaf appearance with beautiful golden tips and plenty of tiny, downy hairs. In the cup it is big, smooth, with fine notes of malt, red wine, rose and sweet currant. Hattiali is an estate with a century-old tradition of excellence. The name Hattiali is derived from the Assamese words "Hatti Alli", meaning literally the elephant is coming down the road, so called on account of a neighbouring elephant camp.
  3. As low as £11.00
    This garden produces many of the best tasting teas in Assam and this exquisite batch is no exception. It has a creamy, delicious malty flavour with hints of dark chocolate, caramel, rose, dates and a sweet honey-like finish. Like the finest 2nd Flush teas from Darjeeling, there are notes of muscatel, citrus and cinnamon. It has a lighter, golden colour not found in many Assam teas and is, unusually for an Assam, very drinkable without milk. This tea was previously listed as Marangi.
  4. As low as £10.00
    The Halmari garden produces many of the best tasting teas in Assam and this exquisite batch is no exception. It has a creamy, delicious malty flavour with hints of dark beer, spice and treacle with a hoppy, orange rind finish. This tea is picked at the peak of the summer season and carries the fine flavour the garden is noted for but at a reasonable price due to the slightly lower content of tips in the finished batch.
  5. As low as £6.00
    This is strong, full-bodied tea with excellent maltiness and rich colour, perfect for an early morning pick-me-up. The aftertaste is nuanced with a refreshing citrus sensation due to the high proportion of tips.This tea was previously listed as Zaloni.
  6. As low as £15.00
    Malty, unctuous character, luscious body, notes of cocoa, cinnamon, currants, black treacle, laurel, fresh peppercorn, stewed fruits and real ale mark this out as one of Assam's 'Supreme' teas.
  7. As low as £9.00
    Decaffeinated using the safe method of CO2, which also leaves more of the flavour quality in the leaf. Made with a good quality Assam broken leaf it is carefully worked to ensure the preservation of the golden tips before being safely decaffeinated. This decaffeinated-tea makes a very authentic cup of tea with a smooth but sufficiently malty and robust quality with a hint of chocolate.
  8. As low as £18.00
    This very distinctive tea grown in the renowned Itakhooli garden is made from a clonal bush known as K1. It is unique for its natural hint of fresh raspberry flavour and aroma. When taken builder's style with creamy milk and two sugars, it is almost like having a scone, cream and jam! One of my favourite teas of the year for breakfast toast and jam or afternoon tea accompaniment. It has a beautiful tippy appearance which helps to deliver a rich, sappy infusion that is very smooth. Previously listed as Itakhooli.
  9. As low as £8.00
    When looking for great Assam tea we expect to find teas with great body and aroma. This is no exception, it yields a complex infusion supported by a malty, rich body, with hints of caramel, cinnamon, raisin, apricot, nougat, candied orange peel and molasses. Previously listed as Mokalbari.
  10. As low as £13.00
    Grown in one of the top gardens in Assam which produces teas of outstanding quality. The area is known as the 'Shelter of the Swans'. It has an almost spicy aroma with a powerful, full-bodied liquor and a delicious taste with notes of malt, cedar, oak wood, a touch of molasses, sweet dates, vanilla, spiced cocoa with a brisk note of citrus to keep the infusion lively.
  11. As low as £14.00
    The Tonganagoan estate is a small tea garden located near the Namdapha National Park, one of the most bio-diverse areas of India. It is one of the very few organic gardens in Assam who are able to produce high-quality tea due to it planting the famous clonal variety P126 tea bush. This tea type is used in all of Assam's top gardens. The many golden tipped leaves lend this tea a very smooth character that along with the malty, jammy fruit notes has a strong sweet-chocolate aroma with hints of spice. Previously listed as Attabarie.
  12. £6.00
    To this day, the Lincoln Imp stands frozen in place....or at least until no-one is looking, when he often indulges his taste for a fine cup of tea by visiting one of Lincoln's other magnificent Norman buildings, home to Imperial Teas. He likes his tea strong and malty so we've selected a rich, tasty pure Assam tea from the peak of the harvest from one of our favourite gardens. As we hope you might expect from us, just because it's a tea bag doesn't mean we've compromised our standards. We've used the same high quality teas as our loose leaf teas, packed at a 40% higher dose than you'll find in other tea bags, into plastic free tea bags for your convenience.
  13. £5.00
    To this day, the Lincoln Imp stands frozen in place....or at least until no-one is looking, when he often indulges his taste for a fine cup of tea by visiting one of Lincoln's other magnificent Norman buildings, home to Imperial Teas. He likes his tea strong and malty so we've selected a rich, tasty pure Assam tea from the peak of the harvest from one of our favourite gardens. As we hope you might expect from us, just because it's a tea bag doesn't mean we've compromised our standards. We've used the same high quality teas as our loose leaf teas, packed at a 40% higher dose than you'll find in other tea bags, into plastic free tea bags for your convenience.
  14. £6.00
    To this day, the stone imp stands frozen in place....or at least until no-one is looking, when he often indulges his taste for a fine cup of tea by visiting one of Lincoln's other magnificent Norman buildings, home to Imperial Teas. He likes his tea strong and malty so we've selected a rich, tasty pure Assam tea from the peak of the harvest from one of our favourite gardens and the fresh flavour of oil of bergamot, which is what makes Earl Grey, Earl Grey! As we hope you might expect from us, just because it's a tea bag it doesn't mean we've compromised our standards. We've used the same high quality teas as our loose leaf teas, packed at a 40% higher dose than you'll find in other tea bags, into plastic free tea bags for your convenience.
  15. As low as £6.00
    Tea, milk and sugar combine to make one of the world's most perfect drinks. This is deeply rich, strong, yet creamily smooth with the absolute perfect bite. Next time you offer a tradesperson a cuppa and they ask for milk and two....go on, indulge yourself. It will make you smack your lips with pleasure!
  16. As low as £6.00
    Chosen by the 'Independent' newspaper as the perfect breakfast tea, it is a hearty but smooth blend of garden Assam tea with lots of golden tips. Blended solely with quality in mind this traditional 'English' tea uses three different leaf styles to deliver a rounded cup with 'Superior' flavour, aroma and appearance. It is the only breakfast tea we offer, believing that no one would want to drink what could only be considered an 'inferior' breakfast tea! This is best appreciated with the addition of full cream milk using one rounded spoon per cup.