Black Ceylon Tea is a variety of tea obtained from the Camellia sinensis plant. Of the four different varieties of teas produced from the plant - namely White tea, Oolong tea, Green tea, and Black tea. Among them Ceylon Black tea is the most popular.

The tea owes its dark color to the fact that it is allowed to fully oxidize. This gives this tea its strong and full-bodied taste. After the harvest, the leaves are withered under blowing hot air. There are two methods to produce this kind of tea, by hand or machine. Machines process the tea leaves in the CTC method - Crush, Tear, Curl - especially where lower-grade leaves are concerned. Efficient and effective for processing the lower to medium grade leaves, these will usually end up in tea bags. The hand method of processing is considered the orthodox method, and is generally reserved for the high quality teas.

Such processing gives the loose tea which is highly sought after in connoisseur circles. Fermentation and oxidization then take place under controlled temperature and humidity conditions. The leaves are then dried to stop the oxidization. Leaves are then sorted and graded according to size, and can also be sub-graded within various categories.

Some of the most popular and sought after black tea leaves are from regions of Assam and Darjeeling in India, Ceylon in Sri Lanka, and Yunnan in China. There cannot be said to be that wide difference between the tea available from each region, since each tea is given its name because of the district from which it is produced and harvested, to create a distinction.

The black Tea remains popular since it is found in most tea bags and chilled in bottles, and in the summer is often used to brew iced tea as well. More studies have been conducted with green tea, that doesn't necessarily mean that it is better than black. The only difference is that green tea is processed less which in turn allows the leaves to keep more of their antioxidant properties. But this difference isn't major!

Black Ceylon tea owes much of its popularity, especially in the US, to the fact that it is most widely available as tea bags, and is the tea used to make iced tea. It is also being touted to have much health benefits, since the tea is a host for high antioxidant content. The tea also holds traces of quite a number of trace elements needed by the body.

Black tea should be infused in water which has just come to a boil. Leaves should be steeped for 3-5 minutes. The longer end of the spectrum should be followed if the tea is to be taken with milk.

Consuming black can also help burn off calories, lower cholesterol, destroy free radicals, and even prevent tooth decay. Black tea does contain about double the amount of caffeine than green ceylon tea, but has half the amount when compared to a regular cup of coffee.