Deep Dive Into Assam Breakfast Tea

In this deep dive we head to the valleys of Assam in northeast India for a behind-the-scenes look at how Tom, JING’s Head of Tea, creates this rich and robust breakfast tea. We’ll also show you why we selected Assam as the origin, what flavours you can expect and how to get the best out of these leaves.
  • 02/01/2025
  • 6 minutes
  • blubolt team
Deep Dive Into Assam Breakfast Tea

Assam Breakfast’s strong malt and honey flavours make it a distinctive example of breakfast tea.

Our experience has shown us that the best flavours and the best way to support quality tea regions to thrive are from selecting pure, unblended tea that has the unique character of the specific region. So when we thought about a breakfast tea, we knew it had to be single origin and we went straight to Assam, an origin famed for producing rich, robust and malty black teas.

In this deep dive we head to the valleys of Assam in northeast India for a behind-the-scenes look at how Tom, JING’s Head of Tea, creates this rich and robust breakfast tea. We’ll also show you why we selected Assam as the origin, what flavours you can expect and how to get the best out of these leaves.

Locals ride through a scenic tea garden, growing in the lowlands of the Brahmaputra River valley

Assam Breakfast dry leaf

What is a Breakfast Tea?

Our Assam Breakfast is in the famous tradition of English breakfast teas. A breakfast tea is typically a blend of strong black teas, to which you might add milk.

A great breakfast tea needs three attributes: strength, colour and flavour. With black tea production spreading across the globe – from China to India and Sri Lanka, then Kenya and Argentina – tea blenders tend to combine leaves from different origins to achieve all three of those attributes. Blending tea stops a unique character from shining through, obscuring the flavour and quality of specific origins.

In order to find the ultimate expression of breakfast tea – with strength, a deep red colour and delicious, malty flavour, we knew that Assam, in Northeast India was the only place to look.

Origins of Assam Breakfast

Name: A nod to the tea’s origin and its robust, breakfast-style flavour.

Cultivar: Indigenous tea bushes of Camellia sinensis var. assamica.

Style: Blended black tea.

Origin: Assam, India.

Terroir: Assam is a northeastern state of India, where tea plantations thrive in the lowlands along the Brahmaputra River. The rich clay soil of the floodplain, combined with the region's warm, humid climate, creates the ideal conditions for growing tea.

Altitude: Typically picked at 45-60 metres above sea level, though some gardens reach up to 1,000 metres.

Picking Season:Summer.

Leaf Appearance: Walnut-coloured tea leaves with scattered golden tips.

Oxidation: 100% fully oxidised.

Infusion: A deep ruby-red hue.

Why is Assam special?

Assam’s indigenous ‘assamica’ tea bushes are dark green and glossy, with broader leaves than those of the Chinese ‘sinensis’ tea plant. They also grow much longer into the summer when they benefit from lots of seasonal rainfall. This helps to make Assam one of the largest tea producing regions in the world: each season, its gardens can collectively produce around 700,000 tonnes of tea.

Assam means ‘one without equal’. The region’s name reflects the quality of its rich and flavourful black teas. Black tea is fully oxidised – that means that the leaves are rolled after they have been picked and withered and left to concentrate their flavours. The best black teas from Assam balance a rousing aroma, a rich malty flavour and notes of honey and dried fruit.

Most of Assam’s many tea gardens are at low elevations on the floodplains of a luscious green valley created by the Brahmaputra River.

Assam tea is generally harvested twice during the season. The first flush is picked in spring, and the second in summer. This second flush is prized for being much sweeter and fruitier, producing an infusion with more intense flavour, aroma and body. This flush also produces a ‘tippier’ tea, meaning it has more of the golden-tipped leaves that are a marker for those prized malty flavours.

Tom, our Head of Tea, tastes his way through some fresh teas with Mr Satyajit Bhuyan, manager of Harmutty Tea Estate

How do we make our Assam Breakfast?

During Assam’s prime second flush summer season, Tom spends a month tasting hundreds of Assam tea samples. Each fresh sample is a few hundred kilograms and is usually the output of one production line of a single tea garden.

It’s rare that a single sample displays all the attributes needed from the final blend. Each one contains the nuances of particular gardens and particular seasons, as well as human factors in how the tea was made. For every sample that is abundant in flavour but is a bit light, Tom has to balance it with another lot of stronger tea. As he builds the tea, he is ruling out anything with the slightest hint of a defect, while working hard to secure the best examples of rich Assam character.

Only a very small proportion of samples pass the test. By the end of the season, Tom will have selected around 40 samples from roughly 20 of Assam’s foremost gardens to combine into this year’s tea.

The large leaves of these Assamica tea bushes are full of rich and robust character

How To Brew Assam Breakfast

Assam Breakfast Loose Leaf

For a 250ml serve, we recommend using our One Cup Tea-iere. Assam Breakfast is easy to make and can be tailored to your taste by adjusting the infusion time. Start with a three-minute infusion using two teaspoons (4g) of loose leaf and freshly boiled water. 

This creates a well-rounded cup with great flavour, even without milk. If you prefer a stronger brew, let it infuse for an extra minute or two—especially if you’re adding milk. Don’t worry; it won’t become bitter. 

Once it reaches your desired strength, pour the entire infusion into your favourite mug for the perfect cup. Remember to pour out every last drop, as the final drops are closest to the leaves and contain a concentrated burst of strength and flavour.

A Note on Milk: Always add milk second! Adding milk first cools the water, reducing the flavour extraction. For the best results, add milk after your tea has fully infused.

Method: 4g per 250ml; 100˚C; 3 minutes per infusion (add 1-2 mins for more strength)

Assam Breakfast Tea Bag 

For a quick, no-nonsense cup, our plant-based pyramid bags are a great alternative. Simply add one to your favourite mug, fill with boiling water, and let it infuse for 3-5 minutes, depending on your preferred strength. When ready, remove the bag and enjoy the fantastic flavour. There’s no need to squeeze the bag - let the tea leaves do all the work. And remember, add the milk afterwards to avoid cooling the water during infusion.

Experience JING Teas Assam Breakfast

If you drink a strong, robust black tea every day and you like adding milk, you’ll enjoy Assam Breakfast. If you’re looking to swap your daily coffee for a tea, its bold, malty flavour and strength should hit the spot. Whether you add milk or not, and whatever your desired strength of infusion, this is a high quality, single origin tea that’s easy for anyone to make well and enjoy.

Easy to make and easy to enjoy - the perfect tea to start your day

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