British black tea equivalent in an Asian store

[gfron1]

We drink a variation of British black tea for breakfast every day. More often than not we end up with a black tea from the Middle Eastern market (nothing fancy, something like Al wazah). I know that black teas are more oxidized than oolong, and we don't want the perfume of jasmine. But, I tend to be Asian groceries far more than any other kind and so I'm always trying to find black tea there. My latest attempt (realizing that most packages don't have English translations on them) was to buy "Vietnamese black tea," which seems far more green than black. I haven't taken the next step of google translating labels...yet.

 

To make sure I'm clear - regular Asian grocery selections, not fancy tea room selections; every day black teas; bulk value teas.

 

So please help me figure out what I obviously can't figure out on my own. What should I look for?

[cdh]

Yunnan black.  Keemun (or Qimen).  Those are appellations of common Chinese black teas.  I think the FooJoy brand I see in asian markets has big yellow cube-shaped tins of those available.  If you like English Breakfast tea, you've gotta go to an Indian market.  There look for Assam teas.

 

Your Asian store really doesn't have Asian market Lipton and other international brands on the shelves, just incomprehensible Asian market Asian brands that don't translate more than a word or two on the labels?

Edited September 30, 2017 by cdh (log)

[liuzhou]

"British" black tea is predominantly Sri Lankan or Indian blends. If your Asian stores are East Asian (Chinese/ Vietnamese) they are unlikely to have it.

 

In China, what we call black tea is known as red tea! 红茶 (simplified Chinese as used on the mainland) or 紅茶 (traditional Chinese as used in Hong Kong and by much of the Chinese diaspora).

 

What the Chinese call black tea (黑茶) is something else - fermented teas such as Pu-er. Very different from "British" black tea.

Edited September 30, 2017 by liuzhou (log)

[gfron1]

@cdh & @liuzhou  Thanks. cdh, We have a number of Asian markets and the ones that I go to most have no staff that speak English, and many of the products don't have English except for the nutrition label. Naturally they have some, but enough that I've been befuddled for a while. liuzhou's comment about red tea would explain a lot. I'll use those characters next time I shop and see what I find. Thanks again!

[Naftal]

On 9/30/2017 at 8:59 AM, cdh said:

Yunnan black.  Keemun (or Qimen).  Those are appellations of common Chinese black teas.  I think the FooJoy brand I see in asian markets has big yellow cube-shaped tins of those available.  If you like English Breakfast tea, you've gotta go to an Indian market.  There look for Assam teas.

 

Your Asian store really doesn't have Asian market Lipton and other international brands on the shelves, just incomprehensible Asian market Asian brands that don't translate more than a word or two on the labels?

 

Yes, I agree. IMO "Keemun (or Qimen) tastes closest to English teas