With our Tea-Direct Black Tea gift pack, your favourite tea-lover can explore a wonderful range of our favourite black teas, sampling some of the finest flavours available from the world’s most celebrated tea-growing regions.
This carefully chosen selection includes rich Assam and breakfast teas, aromatic Earl Grey and delicate, fruity Darjeeling, bold blends, floral Keemun and wonderfully fragrant Nilgiri, for a truly diverse experience.
Black Tea Gift Pack - £39.99
This selection pack includes nine 125g packs of loose leaf tea, beautifully presented in a black presentation box, or a luxury wicker hamper.
A tea subscription, providing you with regular orders of your favourite loose leaf varieties on a personalised schedule, is a wonderful way to take the hassle out of buying tea (and avoiding the prospect of running out before your first cup of the day!). What’s more, you will often find that subscription plans allow you to save on your everyday essentials, with some big savings available.
With a tea subscription plan from Tea-Direct, you will save a massive 15% on every item on your plan, for every order!
You can amend your subscription at any time and change the recurrence of your regular, automatically processed orders, or change the tea variety, bag size and quantity. No matter how often you choose to receive your tea, you will always be saving against the usual RRP of our range, with 15% off every item, every order.
Reasons to Subscribe with Tea-Direct
Subscribe to our Tea of the Month, and we'll send you a different, carefully selected loose tea each month, allowing you to sample a new variety with every order and experience a range of wonderful flavours.
Tea of the Month – From £9.99
Our expert team select a particular variety from our extensive range each month, and pack to order by hand giving you the freshest tea available.
Loose Leaf for All Brewing Methods
Every tea selected is supplied as loose leaf. Prefer tea bags? Why not add our Fill Your Own Tea Bags to your subscription?
From Just £9.99 Per month
We'll freshly pack and deliver your tea to your door or place of work each month from just £9.99. You're free to skip orders if you're a little overstocked, amend or cancel with absolutely no penalty at any time.
What is Lapsang Souchong?
Sourced from the Wuyi Mountain region in China’s Fujian Province, Lapsang Souchong is a world-renowned, luxury black tea, loved for its unique smoky flavours and aromas, its smooth mouthfeel and a very distinct aftertaste.
Lapsang Souchong has been produced centuries, becoming among the most popular teas in the world. The name itself gives an indication of its character; ‘lapsang’ means ‘smoky’ while ‘souchong’ refers to the older, larger leaves that grow two or three leaves down from the bud and the smaller ‘pekoe’ leaves of the tea plant.
Buy Lapsang Souchong from Tea-Direct – Available from just £10.99
There are many quick and easy things that we can do to introduce new healthy habits into our daily routines, and one that has been practiced for perhaps thousands of years, and enjoyed around the world to this day, is the drinking of green tea.
Known for its potential health benefits, green tea contains a high concentration of antioxidants, which may help to protect the body from damage caused by free radicals, as well as the amino acid L-theanine, which has been linked to improved brain function.
Green tea leaves undergo an additional drying stage during production, and it is this unique method of processing that causes oxidisation to halt. This in turn preserves the green and leafy appearance of green teas, as well as the antioxidant levels, while also inhibiting the development of caffeine, so that green teas are often hailed as the healthy tea of choice.
Our 12 Tea Gift Pack is the perfect gift for the tea-lover in your life, bringing together twelve of our favourite teas into a single beautifully presented pack and allowing your lucky recipient to sample a fantastic range of delicious loose-leaf teas.
12 Tea Gift Pack - £29.99
This stunning selection draws some of the most popular tea growing regions in the world, including Sri Lanka, China and India, and includes a range of bold black teas, delicate green teas, rooibos and Earl Grey.
Each tea comes in a 30g bag, and the selection comes neatly packaged in an attractive box, with a helpful booklet that gives information on all of the featured teas.
If the indulgences of December and the holiday period have got you feeling a little less than your best, you might be looking for ways to detox, to get back into shape and improve your diet, or just to rest and recover. With our range of healthy teas and tisanes, made with natural, high quality ingredients and offering a range of benefits to your body and mind, you can get your new year started the right way.
We’ve created categories for our teas that can target your own specific health and wellness goals, with teas for weight loss and improved digestion, teas for improved sleep and increased relaxation, as well as teas for cold and flu recovery that are rich in antioxidants and vitamins.
Our ever-popular range of decaffeinated teas can help you to enjoy your favourite flavours without disturbing your sleep patterns, while our delicious selection of herbal teas and caffeine-free fruit tisanes bring delightful flavours that can be enjoyed hot or cold.
Our gift vouchers can be used across Tea-Direct and are available in a choice of values, while our popular gift subscription allows you to purchase a 3, 6, or 12 month Tea-Direct subscription plan for your recipient, allowing them to activate it at their convenience and receive a different tea each month.
Send the tea lover in your life the perfect gift - a Tea-Direct.co.uk gift voucher!
Choose from the values available and send on to the lucky recipient to spend across our range at their convenience. Gift vouchers are emailed immediately to your own address, and can be printed or emailed on to the recipient.
Our gift vouchers are available in five values: £10, £15, £25, £50 and £100.
Send the tea lover in your life the perfect gift this Christmas - a Tea-Direct.co.uk gift voucher!
Choose from the values available and send on to the lucky recipient to spend across our range at their convenience. Gift vouchers are emailed immediately to your own address, and can be printed or emailed on to the recipient.
Our gift vouchers are available in five values: £10, £15, £25, £50 and £100.
Give the gift of delicious, loose leaf tea with our 12 Days of Christmas gift pack, a wonderful selection of our favourite teas that includes bold black teas, delicate green teas and refreshing Rooibos teas.
Showcasing a diverse range of flavours and delightful aromas, these teas are sourced from some of the most well-known tea-growing regions around the world: Sri Lanka, China and India, Kenya, Japan and South Africa.
Our 12 Days of Christmas gift pack comes neatly packaged in an attractive box and includes a helpful booklet that gives information on all of the featured teas.
12 Days of Christmas Tea Gift Pack - £29.99
Our 12 Days of Christmas gift pack contains 30g bags of the following delicious teas:
Ceylon Orange Pekoe
Made from golden-tipped Pekoe leaves and offering up complex flavours, a subtle sweetness and a lovely crisp bitterness, Ceylon Orange Pekoe is best served as a black tea, but can also be enjoyed with a drop of milk.
Lapsang Souchong
Sourced from the beautiful Wuyi Mountain region of China's Fujian Province, this fine black tea has a distinct smoky aroma and taste, created from methods used during the drying process, resulting in a delicious, well-balanced and robust tea. Leaves are dried over pine wood fires to develop complex woody notes, complementing their natural flavours, and resulting in a delicious, well-balanced and robust tea. Although it is classed as a black tea, in China Lapsang Souchong is known as a red tea, because the liquor it produces when infused is amber red in colour.
Darjeeling Leaf
Produced in the warm, humid climates of West Bengal, where fresh, clean air imbues the leaves with delightfully floral aromas, Darjeeling Tea Leaf offers up delicate fruit flavours characterised as Muscatel, in reference to the Muscat variety of grape.
Kenya BOP
Produced in the tea growing regions of Kenya, where ideal climates, volcanic soils and warm weather create an excellent environment for growing, Kenya BOP offers a rich red liquor and strong, well-balanced flavours that can be enjoyed throughout the day.
Sencha Japanese Cherry
This delicious blend offers up distinct flavours of deep cherry for a tea that is slightly sweet, fruity and very refreshing, and which can be enjoyed all through the day. Sencha is the most common type of Japanese tea, invented in the 18th century by a tea farmer, Nagatani Soen, who devised a way of drying tea leaves using steam, resulting in leaves that are notably fresh and fragrant.
Rooibos
Rooibos is a naturally caffeine-free herbal plant that grows in South Africa. Revealing rounded sweet and fruity flavours, refreshing herbal notes, and a mild and smooth finish, Rooibos can be enjoyed at any time of the day. Known for its distinct earthy flavours and sweet, fruity notes, Rooibos is particularly low in tannins, making for a light, well-rounded drink.
Earl Grey
Offering up wonderful, fresh flavours derived from oil extracted from the rind of the fragrant bergamot orange, Earl Grey is a delightful large leaf tea that, while typically served as a black tea, is just as enjoyable when served with milk. Earl Grey tea gets its wonderful flavour and aroma from the addition of oil of bergamot, extracted from the rinds of bergamot oranges (Citrus bergamia). This citrus fruit is a cross between a lemon, lime and a bitter orange and is green or yellow in colour; they are grown commercially in Calabria, Italy. Although its taste is quite acidic, it complements the full-bodied flavour of black tea perfectly, providing a fresh, citrusy scent with sweet, floral and spicy notes.
Jasmine
Subtly sweet and wonderfully fragrant, Jasmine tea is created by picking closed jasmine flowers in the late summer afternoons, storing them until they begin to open in the evening, and blending them to sit overnight, resulting in delicate, complex flavours and outstanding aromas.
Ceylon Dimbula BOP
Sourced from the historical Dimbula planting region, one of the six principal tea planting regions in Sri Lanka, Ceylon Dimbula BOP reveals bold and fresh flavours, with a smooth taste that is enhanced beautifully when prepared with milk. Brew these leaves for a little longer than usual to really experience the strong flavours.
Keemun
Sourced from the Qimen County of Huangshan City, this tea reveals delicate fruity aromas and a subtly floral fragrance. Keemun is best served without milk or sugar, allowing the winey and fruity flavours to be truly experienced. Produced exclusively in the Qimen County of Huangshan City, in the Southern Anhui province of China, Keemun was first produced in 1875 and quickly grew in esteem to become one of the most well-known teas to come from China.
Assam Leaf
This large leaf tea produces a delightful amber brew that reveals bold, full flavours. Perfect when prepared with milk and sugar, Assam Leaf makes for a delicious tea that can be enjoyed at any time of the day. Sourced from the state of Assam in India, the world’s largest tea-growing region, Assam black tea is a full-bodied, strong, malty tea that frequently forms the base of breakfast teas.
Superior English Breakfast
Made from a wonderful blend of Ceylon, Assam and East African teas, Superior English Breakfast is a large leaf tea that offers delicate flavours, goes perfectly with milk and sugar and is ideal when prepared first thing in the morning. This blend brings together the best qualities from each tea to create a well-rounded, full-flavoured beverage: Assam tea offers a characteristic maltiness and strong, bold flavours, while Ceylon brings subtle sweetness and a lovely crisp bitterness.
Tea Direct Gift Subscription – From £33.99
The perfect gift for the tea lover in your life - our Tea Direct gift subscription provides regular orders of freshly packed speciality teas, delivered direct to your recipient’s door each month!
With a different tea sent each month, our tea gift subscription is sure to be a hit with real tea novices and connoisseurs alike!
Tea of the Month – From £9.99
What’s more, you can get 50% off your first delivery when you use code WELCOME50 at checkout!
A Different Tea Every Month
Our expert team select a particular variety from our extensive range each month, and pack to order by hand giving you the freshest tea available.
Loose Leaf for All Brewing Methods
Every tea selected is supplied as loose leaf. Prefer tea bags? Why not add our Fill Your Own Tea Bags to your subscription?
From Just £9.99 Per month
We'll freshly pack and deliver your tea to your door or place of work each month from just £9.99. You're free to skip orders if you're a little overstocked, amend or cancel with absolutely no penalty at any time.
Enjoy regular deliveries of your favourite loose leaf teas, and save 15% on every order, with our Tea-Direct subscriptions.
Simply select the 'Subscribe & Save' option and choose the frequency you would like to receive your loose leaf tea orders, and we'll automatically send you freshly packed tea exactly when you need it.
What's more, you can save up to 15% on every order automatically without the need for discount codes!
You can change, skip or cancel orders whenever you need to with absolutely no penalty whatsoever, and enjoy free delivery on all subscription orders over £30.
Reasons to Subscribe
With our Fill-Your-Own tea bags, you can fill your own bags with any of our delicious loose leaf teas, for a quick and easy brew at any time.
These non-woven fabric bags allow you to make a wonderful, full-flavoured cup of tea, without needing to bring out the teapot – simply add your loose leaf tea to the bag, use the drawstring to seal it and then brew as you usually would with any other tea bag.
As these bags are fully biodegradable, you can dispose of them easily and responsibly with little fuss and no mess.
Fill Your Own Tea Bags – From £6.99
Send the tea lover in your life the perfect gift - a Tea-Direct.co.uk gift voucher!
Choose from the values available and send on to the lucky recipient to spend across our range at their convenience. Gift vouchers are emailed immediately to your own address, and can be printed or emailed on to the recipient.
Our gift vouchers are available in five values: £10, £15, £25, £50 and £100.
A wonderful and diverse world of refreshing, flavourful herbal teas and fruit tisanes are created by blending exciting combinations of herbal ingredients with loose leaf teas. Some of the more popular ingredients that might be blended with teas are rose, chamomile, peppermint, ginger and hibiscus, while various fruits, roots and spices are also regularly used to create delicious flavours.
There are three main tea-blending techniques that are used to create the desired flavours: blending herbs, inclusions and scenting.
Blending Herbs
The blending of herbs is usually done by hand or commercially in large mixing drums. To ensure consistency, the weight and percentage of each ingredient is recorded to ensure that the precise blend can be created again as required.
Inclusions
Inclusions are ingredients that add a health element or a visual, aesthetic element to the blend, but are not intended to affect the taste or aroma of the tea. For this reason, inclusions should be used with skill and care by the blenders.
Scenting
While teas can adopt distinct aromas from the environments in which they are grown, blenders can also add scents to teas at either the processing or blending stages. The most commonly used scents are jasmine, often used to scent white and green teas, and bergamot oil, used to scent Earl Grey teas.
Our Popular Herbal Teas
Ginger and Lemon Verbena Herbal Tea – From £11.99
This refreshing tea is made from the leaves of the lemon verbena plant (also known as Aloysia citrodora), native to South America. The lemon verbena plant has been used for centuries for its medicinal properties, and it is also believed to reduce inflammation and promote relaxation.
Chamomile Herbal Tea – From £12.99
Known as a traditional remedy for gastrointestinal complaints, this is a soothing and relaxing caffeine-free beverage, best served as it is or with a dash of honey.
Drinking chamomile tea is a great way to unwind after the stresses of the day, offering soothing properties that may promote relaxation and help induce sleep.
Dandelion Herbal Tea – From £9.99
A subtly flavoured, well-balanced tea that is perfect when enjoyed on a relaxing afternoon. There are properties in the roots and leaves of dandelions that can help to cleanse and detoxify the liver and support kidney function. Dandelions also have anti-inflammatory properties that may ease the pain of rheumatism, and studies have shown they can help with inflammation caused by eczema.
Peppermint Herbal Tea – From £10.99
This refreshing and soothing tea is caffeine-free and guaranteed to give you a great kick-start first thing in the day. Made from dried peppermint leaves, this offers a great aroma and a distinct minty taste.
Nettle Herbal Tea – From £9.99
High in vitamin A and vitamin C, as well as minerals such as iron, magnesium, and potassium, this is made from the leaves of the stinging nettle plant, also known as Urtica dioica and native to Europe, Asia, and North America. The leaves of the stinging nettle are rich in nutrients, are said to help cleanse the blood and improve liver function and kidney function, and have been used for centuries as a natural remedy for a variety of health conditions.
This process, sometimes known as ‘killing the green’ or ‘fixing’, is usually done by pan-firing or steaming the leaves, before they are rolled and shaped. Pan-firing involves turning the tea leaves on large heated metal drums, while steaming requires that leaves a passed through a steam chamber for 30-120 seconds. Both of these additional drying methods will add interesting aromas and unique flavours to the green teas, with pan-firing in particular often imparting roasted flavour notes, and steaming bringing out grassy flavours.
Our Popular Green Teas
Jasmine Blossom Green Tea - From £9.99
Jasmine tea is arguably the most famous scented tea in China and is known for its perfumed and floral aromas. Jasmine tea is made in two steps: a ‘base tea’ is first created, before the fragrant jasmine blossoms are added to make the finished tea, through a process known as hongqing.
In Fujian, this jasmine base tea (known as zao) is made from leaf freshly plucked during the spring season, which is then rolled after de-enzyming has taken place. The leaf is then dried, using indirect rather than direct heat, causing the leaves to curl and leaving more surface area exposed, thereby increasing the absorption of the scent of jasmine once the blossoms are introduced.
Japan Sencha Green Tea – From £13.99
This classic green tea is delicate and well-rounded, offering lovely grassy notes, a hint of bitterness and a smooth finish, and is ideal to be enjoyed all through the day.
Sencha tea is rich in antioxidants, which may help to protect the body from damage caused by free radicals, and contains compounds that have been shown to promote heart health and boost the immune system.
Vanilla Green Tea – From £10.99
Made from Chinese gunpowder tea that has been delicately scented with vanilla, this is sweet and creamy, with a subtle caramel character.
Produced in the Zhejiang Province of China, gunpowder tea is prepared by rolling the leaves into small pellets, at which point they are withered, steamed, rolled and dried. The resulting tea is beautifully golden in colour and packed full of flavours.
Earl Grey Green Tea – From £9.99
Made with a blend of high-quality green tea leaves and oil extracted from the rind of the fragrant bergamot orange, this unique, vibrant and refreshing tea combines the natural freshness of green tea with the bright and zesty flavour of bergamot.
Bergamot is a cross between a lemon, lime and a bitter orange and is green or yellow in colour. Grown commercially in Calabria, Italy, the taste of bergamot is quite acidic, but complements the full-bodied flavour of green tea perfectly.
Rose Green Tea – From £10.99
Delicately scented with rose, this China Gunpowder tea is layered with rose petals and reveals a wonderful rose aroma, making a great base for iced tea.
Also known as Chinese Temple Tea, gunpowder tea reveals a slightly smoky flavour and a lovely, yellow-green colour. Picked during spring and early summer, the dried, withered leaves, which resemble gunpowder in appearance, slowly unfurl when they are brewed, releasing their flavour and wonderful aroma.
The people of India are the largest consumers of tea in the world, drinking more than 20 per cent of the world’s tea every year! What’s more, India is the second largest producer of tea, an impressive achievement given that, unlike in many other tea producing countries, tea plants are dormant over the winter period.
Large scale production of tea began in India in the early 1820s, and since then consumption in India, and around the world, has risen to huge numbers, making these teas favourites for tea lovers everywhere who value their delightful flavours and exquisite aromas.
Climate and Harvesting of Indian Teas
The climates of the Assam and Darjeeling regions are considered key in producing the delightful flavours and aromas of many Indian teas; a balance of conditions throughout the year come together perfectly during the one or two harvests each year, known as the ‘first flush’ and ‘second flush’.
The first flush tends to be the first of the season, occurring in early spring when there is some rainfall, but the air is still relatively dry from the winter. The second flush usually takes place in early summer, when the higher rainfall produces good quality teas.
Our range of teabags from SUKI Tea Makers are produced using responsibly sourced, certified teas and are packaged using plastic-free materials, so that SUKI can deliver a delicious cup of fresh and aromatic tea, while supporting farmers and working to protect the environment by reducing emissions.
Sourcing the Teas
SUKI Tea Makers uses open and responsible sourcing methods to produce their range, which helps to protect the farmers who grow their teas, improve the lives and working conditions of staff, and improve their local environment.
As only certified teas that have been hand plucked are selected for use, SUKI can ensure that the integrity of the chosen tea plants remains intact.
SUKI HQ
All of the hand-plucked, certified teas are shipped to SUKI HQ, an eco-factory that is 100% powered by solar and renewable energy!
At SUKI HQ, all of the teas that arrive are subjected to rigorous quality controls and taste tests, when both dry and wet, to ensure that the best flavours and aromas make their way into every cup.
Plastic-Free Packaging
SUKI’s range of pyramid teabags are plastic-free and made from paper yarn, and a material called Soilon, a naturally derived product made from corn starch, that is fully compostable and can be disposed of in food waste collections.
Picks from Our SUKI Teabag Range
Breakfast Tea – From £28.99
A well-rounded blend of quality hand-plucked leaves from gardens in Kenya and Rwanda. Wonderfully strong yet balanced, Breakfast Tea reveals the warming characteristics of East African teas and produces a bright amber and brownish colour cup, with full-bodied flavours that go excellently with a splash of milk.
This Fairtrade and Rainforest Alliance certified tea was winner of Great Taste Awards and the ‘Irish Food Oscars’ Blas na hEireann.
Earl Grey Blue Flower Tea – From £28.99
An exciting spin on a classic, Earl Grey Blue Flower tea is a wonderful, delicate blend of East African black tea and the finest Italian bergamot oil, with the addition of bright blue corn flowers, resulting in a tea that reveals exquisite floral flavours and a subtle bergamot character.
Awarded one star in the 2021 Great Taste Awards and a GOLD award in the Blas Na hEireann Awards 2021.
Green Tea Sencha – From £28.99
This smooth, gentle Chinese green tea is wonderfully fragrant when brewed at the ideal temperate of 70-80 degrees for about 3 minutes. Sencha tea is produced through a very traditional technique that keeps the flavour packed in the tea, resulting in a light and fresh cup that can be enjoyed all through the day.
Chamomile Tea – From £28.99
Red Berry Tea – From £28.99
This red berry tisane is a punchy infusion of mixed berries, fruit and hibiscus, made with no actual tea but plenty of delicious, fruity flavours. Made with real chunky pieces of fruit, this tisane is tart and juicy and can be enjoyed all through the day.
For us tea lovers, there never seems to be a bad time to put the kettle on and enjoy a delicious brew. That is until we are looking for a great night’s sleep, and choose to sacrifice a cup of our favourite tea for fear of being kept tossing and turning all night from the caffeine hit!
That’s where Tea-Direct can help. We offer a wonderful selection of some of the best decaffeinated teas you will find in terms of quality, freshness and flavour.
Our delicious decaffeinated teas are produced safely through the popular Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Method, which uses naturally occurring CO2, combined with high pressure and temperature, to extract the caffeine without the use of any nasty chemicals. Extra care is taken to preserve the tannins whilst reducing the caffeine content, and by using the finest quality tea leaves, subtle flavours and characteristics may be retained.
Why not take a look at our best decaffeinated loose leaf teas, or check out our range of wonderfully refreshing, naturally caffeine-free tisanes?
Decaffeinated Leaf Tea – From £15.99
Full of fresh, bold flavours, this rich and aromatic tea is made using Ceylon black tea leaves and is the perfect alternative for those looking for a satisfying brew, without the effects of caffeine. Enjoy with a splash of milk, as a black tea, or with a slice of lemon and sugar for a truly refreshing brew.
Earl Grey Decaffeinated Tea – From £15.99
Flavoured with the natural oils of bergamot, this strong, black decaffeinated tea creates a wonderful Earl Grey, full of delicate notes and a wholly unique aroma.
The different forms and characteristics that tea leaves take on after processing are generally the result of oxidisation, with each variety being processed and oxidised in different ways. These varied methods of processing tea leaves result in a great range of flavours, aromas and colours in the brewed teas, as well as varying levels of antioxidants and caffeine.
Black teas are known for their fantastic depth of flavour and are often enjoyed with milk, a combination that has made varieties such as English Breakfast a much-loved staple.
You might have come across a variety of teas that are described as being “Ceylon” varieties, but what does this refer to?
Ceylon is the former name of modern-day Sri Lanka, used during the 150-year British rule until 1948. The extent of the tea-trade from Ceylon during this period meant that a wide range of wonderful tea varieties were produced and exported, including the popular Orange Pekoe variety, which may have been popularised by 19th-century British tea magnate, Sir Thomas Lipton.
Sri Lanka remains a major exporter of teas to this today, exporting over 90% of the tea it grows to countries worldwide, with a large amount going to the Middle East and Europe.
The Pekoe Grading System
The popular Ceylon Orange Pekoe tea is graded by a system that is applied by the Western tea trade and used to specify the size categories of several black teas.
Using this system, tea drinkers and importers can be sure that the loose-leaf tea purchased is of high quality. Whole Orange Pekoe (OP) tea leaves are lighter and more delicate than their broken counterparts (broken Orange Pekoe, or BOP), and it is this wholeness that contributes to the much-loved complex flavours and delicate aromas of the tea.
You can read more on the pekoe tea grading system with our helpful guide.
Our Ceylon Tea Picks
Ceylon Orange Pekoe Tea - From £9.99
Offering up complex flavours, a subtle sweetness and a lovely crisp bitterness, Ceylon Orange Pekoe is well-balanced and can be enjoyed all through the day. Made from golden-tipped Pekoe leaves, this is best served as a black tea, but can also be enjoyed with a drop of milk.
The Orange Pekoe category of tea grade is one of the highest back tea grades available, gaining its renowned status from the characteristic wholeness of the leaves, which are obtained during the first flushes (pickings) of the season.
Ceylon BOP Tea – From £9.99
A full-bodied Broken Orange Pekoe tea, offering up delicious, slightly sweet flavours and a rich, deep colour, and made from carefully selected medium-sized leaves.
Ceylon BOP tea is produced at high elevations and grown in rich, fertile soil that is exposed to ideal levels of sunlight and rainfall. The tea leaves are hand-plucked and then processed using traditional methods of withering, rolling, and fermenting.
Ceylon Dimbula BOP Tea – From £9.99
Sourced from the historical Dimbula planting region, one of the six principal tea planting regions in Sri Lanka, Ceylon Dimbula BOP reveals bold and fresh flavours, with a smooth taste that is enhanced beautifully when prepared with milk.
Dimbula, one of the main tea-growing regions in Sri Lanka, is located in the central hills of Sri Lanka at an altitude of around 1,200 to 2,000 meters above sea level, where cool temperatures and a high altitude provide ideal growing conditions.
Ceylon Kandy BOP Tea – From £9.99
Produced in the Kandy region of Sri Lanka, at a medium elevation of 4,000 foot, Ceylon Kandy BOP obtains its unique flavours from the range of altitudes and the plantation's varied exposure to the Monsoon. Bright, strong and full-bodied, with a slightly coppery tone, Ceylon Kandy BOP is perfect when brewed for around five minutes.
Silver Tip Ceylon Tea – From £17.99
The neat, black leaves of Silver Tip Ceylon Tea feature a gold spine and produce a deep red liquor when steeped. A smooth, malty flavour typical of many Sri Lankan teas is accented with tangy notes of fruits and molasses. Best brewed at a temperature of 90 degrees and left to infuse for 3-4 minutes.
A defining feature of Silver Tip Ceylon Tea is its silvery appearance, caused by the presence of delicate, white tips on the tea leaves. Light and refreshing, with a delicate floral aroma and a crisp, clean taste, this tea can be enjoyed all through the day.
During your explorations in the world of tea, you may have come across Rooibos and perhaps aren’t entirely sure what this unique, caffeine-free and flavoursome tea is, nor where it comes from.
It is perhaps not surprising if you have not come across Rooibos until recently – Rooibos is sourced from the Aspalathus linearis, a plant that is indigenous to South Africa’s Cederberg Mountains, located north of Cape Town.
Known for its distinct and earthy taste, sweet, fruity notes and unique aroma,
Rooibos offers characteristic warm, woody, slightly herbal flavours when prepared as a hot drink, with a full-bodied finish and a low tannin level.
Our Recommended Rooibos Teas
Rooibos Tea – From £10.99
Revealing rounded sweet and fruity flavours, refreshing herbal notes, and a mild and smooth finish, our classic Rooibos Tea can be enjoyed at any time of the day.
Rooibos offers naturally sweet, fruity, earthy flavours, slightly herbal notes and a full-bodied finish. The low tannin level in Rooibos means that it is not bitter, even when steeped for several minutes, resulting in a smooth, well-rounded and mild drink.
Rooibos Earl Grey Tea – From £11.99
Made using South African rooibos flavoured with bergamot, Rooibos Earl Grey brings a delightful twist to classic Earl Grey flavours.
The essential oil that gives Earl Grey tea its unique flavour is obtained from the bergamot orange (Citrus bergamia), a citrus fruit that is yellow or green in colour, and has a fresh, citrusy scent with sweet, floral and spicy notes, and tastes slightly acidic, but the flavour complements a Rooibos tea perfectly.
Rooibos Vanilla Tea – From £11.99
Revealing aromas of dark sugar and notes of vanilla, subtle fruitiness, a melting texture and warm, comforting flavours, Rooibos Vanilla is a delicious spin on the classic Rooibos flavours.
Rooibos Chilli Tea – From £11.99
This full and fruity tea is made from a lovely blend of Rooibos tea, rosebuds, safflower, chillies, carrot flakes and peony petals, and offers up surprising and punchy notes of chilli, warm and rich flavours, and exciting aromas that are guaranteed to perk you up first thing in the day.
Rooibos Green Tea – From £11.99
Made from the same South African plant as traditional red rooibos, Green Rooibos contains leaves that are processed slightly differently: specially treated to prevent oxidation, Green Rooibos leaves create a tea that is lighter in body and less citric than red rooibos. Naturally caffeine-free, Green Rooibos offers up woody, grassy notes, a natural sweetness and delicious fruity flavours.
For us tea-lovers, there is never a bad time to enjoy a delicious brew, but maybe you are looking for a tea that you can enjoy at any time of day, that won’t keep you up at night.
At Tea-Direct, our caffeine-free teas are naturally decaffeinated through the CO2 method, using no chemicals, so you can enjoy all of the delightful flavours of our loose leaf teas without any impurities, and without the caffeine!
Decaffeinated teas make for delicious, full-flavoured teas that can be enjoyed all through the day, relaxing alternatives for the evenings, and great bases for cool and refreshing iced teas.
Our Decaffeinated and Caffeine-Free Tea Picks
Decaffeinated Leaf Tea – From £15.99
Full of fresh, bold flavours, this rich and aromatic tea is made using Ceylon black tea leaves and is the perfect alternative for those looking for a satisfying tea, without the effects of caffeine. Enjoy Decaffeinated Leaf with a splash of milk, as a black tea, or with a slice of lemon and sugar for a truly refreshing brew.
Earl Grey Decaffeinated Tea – From £15.99
Flavoured with the natural oils of bergamot, this strong, black decaffeinated loose leaf tea creates a wonderful Earl Grey, full of delicate notes and a wholly unique aroma.
Earl Grey tea gets its wonderful flavour and aroma from the addition of oil of bergamot, extracted from the rinds of bergamot oranges (Citrus bergamia). This citrus fruit is a cross between a lemon, lime and a bitter orange, and is grown commercially in Calabria, Italy.
Decaffeinated Sencha Green Tea – From £9.99
Made from Chinese sencha leaves, this light and delicate green tea is very refreshing and can be enjoyed at any time of day.
Sencha tea is rich in antioxidants, which may help to protect the body from damage caused by free radicals, and contains compounds that have been shown to promote heart health and boost the immune system.
Decaffeinated Fannings Tea – From £11.99
Made with Ceylon fannings, fine and fragrant leaves that, when steeped, produce a wonderfully robust and flavoursome brew of a dark amber colour. It has all the flavour of Kenya PF Tea, but without the caffeine, so can be enjoyed at any time of day.
Ceylon, or Sri Lankan teas are characteristically light and delicate, revealing wonderfully sweet and fruity flavours.
Rooibos Tea – From £10.99
Rooibos is a naturally caffeine-free herbal plant that grows in South Africa, revealing rounded sweet and fruity flavours, refreshing herbal notes, and a mild and smooth finish.
The rich and vibrant world of teas may seem a bit daunting for a beginner, with such a wide variety of flavours and aromas to choose from, as well as different growing regions, countries, climates and more to consider.
At Tea-Direct, we source a fantastic range of quality loose leaf teas, selected from a variety of countries and popular growing regions. Our Teas of the World page can help you narrow down your choice, as well as our Tea Finder tool, but why not take a look in more detail at some of our most popular teas from around the world.
Sri Lanka
The country produces mostly black teas, but also produces and exports CTC (‘crush, tear, curl’), white and green teas. The two types of green tea produced in Sri Lanka are gunpowder tea, prepared using the Chinese leaf-drying method, and sencha tea, prepared using the Japanese method of steaming the leaves.
Ceylon Orange Pekoe Tea – From £8.99
Offering up complex flavours, a subtle sweetness and a lovely crisp bitterness, Ceylon Orange Pekoe is well-balanced and can be enjoyed all through the day. Made from golden-tipped Pekoe leaves, this is best served as a black tea, but can also be enjoyed with a drop of milk.
Ceylon BOP Tea – From £7.99
A full-bodied Broken Orange Pekoe tea, offering up delicious, slightly sweet flavours and a rich, deep colour, and made from carefully selected medium-sized leaves.
China
Chinese tea leaves are harvested at different times throughout the year but not usually during winter, when temperatures are simply too low. The first spring harvest is generally considered to be the highest quality, making up nearly half of all yearly production of Chinese tea.
China produces almost all types of tea, with the majority being green tea, which is exported widely. Black teas such as Keemun, Yunnan and lapsang souchong are exported in large quantities, while oolong and pu’erh are also very popular.
Lapsang Souchong – From £8.99
Sourced from the beautiful Wuyi Mountain region of China's Fujian Province, this fine black tea has a distinct smoky aroma and taste, created from methods used during the drying process. Leaves are dried over pine wood fires to develop complex woody notes, complementing their natural flavours, and resulting in a delicious, well-balanced and robust tea.
Keemun Tea – From £8.99
Sourced from the Qimen County of Huangshan City, Keemun is a black Chinese leaf that was first produced in 1875. Revealing delicate fruity aromas and a subtly floral fragrance, Keemun is best served without milk or sugar, allowing the winey and fruity flavours to be truly experienced.
India
The assamica tea variety is native to India’s Himalayan region and has grown wild for thousands of years, with tea being made from it for at least 500 years. The famous Indian tea regions of Assam and Darjeeling boast a climate that is considered key to producing excellent tea flavours, while different harvest periods, known as ‘flushes’, occur in early spring and again in early summer, when higher amounts of rainfall mean that the harvested teas are of good quality.
India produces mostly black teas, which are split between CTC and orthodox production methods, but it also offers some green, white and oolong teas.
Darjeeling Leaf Tea – From £9.99
Produced in the warm, humid climates of West Bengal, where fresh, clean air imbues the leaves with delightfully floral aromas, Darjeeling Tea Leaf is an excellent, light tea that offers up delicate fruit flavours, which are characterised as Muscatel, in reference to the Muscat variety of grape.
Assam Leaf Tea – From £8.99
This large leaf tea produces a delightful amber brew that reveals bold, full flavours. Perfect when prepared with milk and sugar, Assam Leaf makes for a delicious tea that can be enjoyed at any time of the day.
Kenya
The Great Rift Valley is located on the Equator at an altitude of 1,500m-2,700m, which provides an ideal climate for growing tea, with long, sunny days and consistent rainfall throughout the year, as well as a red volcanic soil that is high in nutrients.
Kenyan teas can be described as bright and brisk, with a copper-red tint to the liquor. CTC tea is produced for blending in Kenya, which is a full-bodied tea, bright in flavour and often taken with milk.
Kenya BOP Tea – From £8.99
Produced in the tea growing regions of Kenya, where ideal climates, volcanic soils and warm weather create an excellent environment for growing, Kenya BOP offers a rich red liquor and strong and well-balanced flavours.
Kenya PF Tea – From £7.99
Made from small but very aromatic leaves, Kenya PF is produced in the ideal climates of Kenya's tea growing regions. With a beautiful red liquor and lovely strong flavours, Kenya PF can be enjoyed at any time of the day.
South Africa
Rooibos is grown and harvested in a similar way to tea but is only produced as two types: red and green. Red rooibos, the most common of the two, is the fully oxidized version and tastes malty and earthy, similar to black teas. Green rooibos is not oxidized, tastes grassier and more vegetal, and is more similar to yerba mate or camomile.
Rooibos tea is prepared by infusing the dried leaves in boiling water for no less than four minutes, but unlike certain other teas from the Camellia sinensis plant, rooibos does not tend to become at all bitter when over-brewed, making it a very versatile tea that also blends wonderfully with select flavours.
Rooibos Tea – From £9.99
Rooibos is a naturally caffeine-free herbal plant that grows in South Africa. Rooibos reveals rounded sweet and fruity flavours, refreshing herbal notes and a mild and smooth finish.
Rooibos Vanilla Tea – From £9.99
Revealing aromas of dark sugar and notes of vanilla, subtle fruitiness, a melting texture and warm, comforting flavours, Rooibos Vanilla is a delicious, caffeine-free rooibos tea.
Take a look at our Teas of the World map to find your new favourite tea!