Assam black tea

What is Assam tea?

Assam tea is a black tea produced in the Assam region of India. Until recently, Assam mostly produced mass-market black tea. Although Assam tea is very popular and widely available, it is still a relatively new type of tea. Tea production in India began about 200 years ago.

What sets Assam tea apart from other black teas:

Assam tea is made from Camellia sinensis var. assamica, a plant native to Assam

Unique terroir

Processing methods

The region produces about 50% of India’s total tea output, making it the largest tea industry in India and the biggest tea-growing region in the world. It has around 50,000 tea producers, yielding nearly 49 million kilograms of tea per year. Some are large estates producing mass-market tea, while others are small gardens focusing on artisanal and specialty teas. These smaller gardens are part of why Assam tea is gaining more appreciation and respect today. Until recently, most tea from Assam was blended, often destined for tea bags.


With the rise in popularity of loose-leaf tea, Assam has the opportunity to showcase the full beauty and versatility of its native tea plants. Today, one can also find amazing white, oolong, or green teas produced in the region—often rare and premium-priced. But most importantly, black tea is finally getting the recognition it deserves.
Two types of Assam tea

Assam usually has four harvests per year, with the first and second flushes considered the best. Unlike Darjeeling, this is a low-grown, fully oxidized tea. There are two main types—orthodox tea and CTC tea. Traditional Assam tea can be further divided into many categories depending on leaf type. Orthodox tea is made using traditional methods and is generally considered higher quality than tea bag tea. However, that’s not always the case, as final quality depends on many factors—soil, climate, plant variety, leaf type, harvest time, processing method, and more.

CTC or Crush, Tear, Curl tea is a type of black tea where the leaves are crushed into small granules, similar to what you find in typical Indian tea. CTC is not used to make other types of tea such as green, white, oolong, pu-erh, or yellow tea.