ction, held every Monday morning (barring public or bank holidays) in the City of London is the only true international tea auction, where teas from all over the world are sold.

Autumnal

Teas harvested in autumn and touched with cool weather. The term is normally applied to teas from India and Formosa.

Ball tea

China tea compressed in a ball to protect it against atmospheric changes.

Basket-fired

Japan tea that has been cured in baskets by firing or drying.

Billy tea

Tea made by Australian bushmen in billy cans.

Bitter tea

Tea brewing method used in Cashmere. Tea is boiled in a tinned copper vessel, red potash, aniseed and salt are added before it is served from a brass or copper, tinlined teapot.

Black tea

Tea that has been fired or dried after the fermentation or oxidisation period of manufacture.

Blend

Tea taster who decides on the proportions of each different tea required to produce the flavour of a given blend.

Bohea

Tea from the Wu-i Hills in Fukien, China. Originally was applied to black China tea and to tea from Indonesia. In the 18th century Bohea (Bo-hee) was the name given to the tea drink.

Break

An amount of tea, comprising a given number of chests or sacks of tea.

Brick tea

Common grades of China and Japan tea mixed with stalk and dust and moulded into bricks under high pressure. Originally, these bricks were used by Asian travellers as convenient way of carrying the tea they need to drink and the bricks were also used to barter for other goods.

Broker

A tea taster who negotiates the selling of tea from producers, or the buying of tea for packers and dealers, for a brokerage fee from the party on whose behalf the broker is working.

Butter tea

Boiled tea mixed with salt and soda, then strained into an urn containing butter and dried ground cereal (often barley) and churned. Butter tea is served in a basin and often a lump of butter is added when serving. It was served in Tibet and then in India.

Cachar

The most common variety of India tea, produced in Cachar district of Assam.

Caddy

The name given to a tin or jar of tea, which takes its name from the Chinese or Malayan word catty- a term used to describe the weight of one pound of tea. In the past tea caddies were equipped with a lock and key.

Camellia sinensis

Today, the tea trade is international botanical name for the tea plant.

Caravan tea

Tea taken by camel from China to Russia in the past.

Ceylon

Blends of teas grown on the island of Sri Lanka, which takes their name from the colonial name for the island. The traditional name of Sri Lanka was readopted by the island when it became a Sovereign Republic in the Commonwealth in 1972.

Cha

The word for tea derived from the Chinese and Indian languages.

Chanoyu

Japanese tea ceremony or party.

Chest

Original tea package, normally made of wood and lined with metal foil. Originally tea chests were lined with lead.

Ching Wo

Black China tea from Fujien province.

Chop

From the Indian chapna meaning to stamp a number, mark or brand. Each break of chop of tea is marked.

Chunmee

Green China tea, said to resemble the shape of human eyebrows.

Collection

Once a plucker has filled a basket or sack with tea leaf, it is taken to a collection point where it is checked and weighed before being taken to the factory for making.

Cloning

Cuttings taken from old tea bushes to produce new tea bushes. Today most tea bushes are grown from clones or cuttings taken from older bushes.

Congou

A general term used to describe all black China teas regardless of the area in which they are grown and made.

Country Greens

A term originally used to describe China green teas, other than Hoochows or Pingsueys.

Darjeeling

A tea growing area in North India on the foothills of the Himalayas Mountains. Teas grown here take their name from the area and are said to be the Champagneof Indian teas. Grown at altitudes up to 7,000ft above sea level ( more than 1,291m) Darjeeling tea is known as a high-grown tea and is light in colouring with a delicate, muscatel flavour and aroma. The original tea planted in this area was grown from seeds and plants imported from China.

Darrang

Tea growing district in Assam, North India.

Dehru Dun

A tea growing area in the Uttar Pradesh State, North-west India. Some 30 estates (most of them under 50 hectares) produce green and orthodox black leaf tea.

Dibrugarh

One of the seven tea growing districts in Assam. Dickoya Tea growing district on the central massif in Sri Lanka. Teas from this area are known as high grown teas and have a full astringent flavour.

Dimbula

Tea growing district just above Dickoya, which gives its name to a blend of Ceylon teas from this area and is also used in Ceylon blends. Dimbula teas are black and characterised by their full-bodied flavour.

Dooars

A tea growing region of North India just below the Himalaya Mountains which produce full-bodied coloury teas that are ideal for blending purposes.

Earl Grey

A black China tea treated with the oil of bergamot which gives the tea a scented aroma and taste. It was said to have been blended for and named after the 2nd Earl Grey when he was prime minister of Britain by a Chinese mandarin after the success of a British diplomatic mission to China.

English Breakfast tea

A name for the tea blend which originally applied to China Congou tea in the United States of America. In Britain it was a name applied to a blend of teas from India and Sri Lanka; today it is used to include blends of black teas producing a full-bodied strong flavoured colourful tea.

Estate

A tea growing property or holding that may include more than one garden under the same managership or ownership. In the past tea estates where known as plantations.

Formosa

An island off the Chinese coast formally known as Taiwan which produces Oolong, Pouchong and black teas made by the Orthodox method.

Garden

The name originally given to tea growing plantations or estates. The Japanese cultivated tea gardens within their temples and palace grounds and had copied this idea from the Chinese. Today, the term estate has tended to replace the word garden but teas grown on such tend to identify fine harvests produced solely from that estate - hence a single estate tea. Tea garden was also used to describe London pleasure gardens in England mainly during the 18th century where tea was served to both sexes.

Government Standards

Applies to teas being imported into the United States of America which comply with the standards of purity, quality and fitness for consumption as defined by the tea examiners under the Food & Drug Administration of the USA Department of Health, Education and Welfare.

Grade

Term used to describe a tea leaf or particle size of leaf. Green Tea Tea that is withered, immediately steamed or heated to kill the enzymes and then rolled and dried. It has a light appearance and flavour.

Gunpowder

Normally a China tea, but today could be any young tea, which is rolled into a small pellet-size ball then dried. The finished tea has a greyish appearance not unlike gunpowder in colour which is how the tea gets its name.

Gyokuro

A high-grade Japanese tea produced by a special process in the Uji district of Japan. It is made from tea grown on shaded bushes. Hankerchief tea A tea which was grown on Formosa and which gets its name from the large silk hankerchiefs that Chinese tea growers used to use to collect their very fine tippy teas. High Tea The name given to a meal served late afternoon-early evening which is a mixture of afternoon tea and dinner. The meal comprises a main entree dish sometimes a pudding or dessert served with bread and butter, cakes and tea. High tea was the main meal for farming and working classes in Britain in the past. Hoochow A China green tea. Hunan One of the tea growing provinces of China.

Hyson

A type of China green tea formerly drunk exclusively in Europe and often the name given there to the tea drink. Young Hyson is this type of tea which is plucked early.

Indonesia

Producer of teas which are bright and brisk.

Invoice

The document covering a shipment of tea generally synonimous with a break or chop.

Jat

Type of tea bush normally applied to its origin. For example a tea comes from the China or Indian jat. This means that the tea bushes originated either from seeds or cuttings from China tea plants or from the indigenous Indian tea found in Assam.

Java

A tea producing island of Indonesia.

Kandy

A Ceylon tea , medium grown at altitudes between 2,000ft and 4,000ft above sea level. Teas from Kandy are also used for blending purposes.

Kangra

Valley In Himachal Pradesh, North-West India where tea is grown on some 1,200 small holdings each just a few hectares in size. Green tea production predominates.

Keemun

A fine grade of black-leaf China Congou tea produced in the Anhui province.

Kenya

An East Africa tea producing country, which produces some of the finest black teas from the African continent. Kenya teas are used for blending purposes as well as being sold as speciality tea in its own right. It is a bright coppery tea with a pleasantly brisk flavour.

Kericho

The home of the state-owned Kenya Tea Packing Factory from which the internal market is supplied.

Lakhimpur

A tea growing district in Assam, North India.

Lapsang Souchong

A black tea from China and today Formosa which is smoked giving it its smoky tarry flavour and aroma.

Malawi

African tea producer whose teas are mainly used for blending purposes as they are coloury with good flavour.

Matcha

Powdered green tea from Japan used in the tea ceremony.

Meat tea

Another term for high tea. Natural leaf Whole-leaf green tea from Japan similar to panfired but with less rolling also known as porcelain-fired tea.

Nuwarah Eliyah

A Ceylon tea , high grown at altitudes above 4,000ft above sea-level. The tea is light with a full citrus flavour.

Nilgiri

South Indian tea growing district, which produces black tea.

Nowgong

One of the seven tea producing districts in Assam.

Oolong

A semi-fermented or semi-green tea produced in China and Formosa.

Pan-fired

A kind of Japan tea that is steamed then rolled in iron pans over charcoal fires.

Plucking plateau

The flat top of the tea bush from which the top two leaf and bud sprouts on sprigs are plucked.

Pouchong

A kind of scented China or Formosa tea so called from the Cantonese method of packing tea in small paper packet, each of which was supposed to be the produce of one choice of tea plant.

Pruning

Selective cutting back of the tea bush, so that maintains its shape and helps to keep it productive.

Russian tea

The name given to a glass of hot tea liquor which has been poured into the glass over a slice of lemon. Sometimes sugar or honey are added. In some countries this type of tea drink is known as lemon tea. The name comes from the Russia way of taking tea.

Rwanda

An African tea producer, whose teas are used for blending purposes. Rwanda tea has a bright coppery colour and brisk taste.

Scented tea

Green semi-fermented or black teas that have been flavoured by the additions of flowers, flower petals, fruits spices or natural oils. Examples of these are Jasmine Tea, Rose Puchong, Orange Tea, Cinnamon Tea or Earl Grey.

Semi-fermented tea

Tea that has been partially fermented before being fired or dried. This tea has the qualities and appearance halfway between a green and black tea.

Sencha

The most popular variety of green tea in Japan.

Sibsagar

A tea growing district in Assam, North India.

Single Estate tea

A blend of teas from one particular estate or garden.

Smoky tea

Black tea from China or Formosa that has been smoked over a wood fire such in the case of Lapsang Souchong.

Speciality tea

A blend of teas that takes its name from the area in which it is grown; a blend of teas blended for a particular person or event, or a blend of teas for a particular time of day.

Spring teas

Formosa teas picked in the April-May season.

Souchong

A large leaf black tea. Originated in China, Souchong tea was made from a small bush whose leaves were allowed to develop to a large size.

Sumatra

A tea producing island of Indonesia.

Summer teas

Formosa teas picked in the June-September season.

Szechwan

A non-smoky black tea from China, with narrow leaves and flowery fragrance. Also a tea growing province in China.

Tannin

The name the tea trade worldwide gives to polyphenols contained in tea. Polyphenols are responsible for the pungency of tea and give its taste.

Tanzania

African tea producing country.

Tarry

The smoky aroma and taste associated with a smoked black tea such as Lapsang Souchong.

Terai

A North Indian tea growing district just below the Darjeeling district.

Tea factory

Factory where the plucked leaf is made or manufactured into black or green tea.

Tea tree

A tea bush or plant which has been allowed to return to its wild state and grow back into a tree.

Tea taster

An expert judge of leaf and cup quality tea at all stages of production, brokerage blending and final packaging.

Tip

The bud leaves on a tea bush.

Twankay

A low grade China green tea. This word was corrupted Twanky, which was applied to the men manning the ships bringing tea back from China. These ships often foundered on reaching the British coast and the bodies of Twankys would be washed ashore to be found by their widows - hence the name given to the Aladdin character Widow Twanky by a Victorian impresario.

Uva

A tea growing district in Sri Lanka which produces a tea of great subtlety.

Yunnen

A tea growing province in china producing a black leaf tea. Along with Assam, this region was the original site of wild tea plants. Zimbabwe Tea producing country of Africa.