Small Leaf Assam Pekoe Fannings

The tea growing area of Assam, which extends along both sides of the Brahmaputra River in Northern India, is one of the largest tea growing areas in the world.

Many of our customers refer to this tea as ‘Small Leaf Assam’ and we sold it as such for many years through the 1950s to 1980s. In the early 1980s British interest in teas other than small leaf started to broaden and so we offer many different types of Assam Tea. All of which are listed under Indian teas as Assam (leaf grade) teas.

We have written an extensive description of the tea growing in Assam under Assam Broken Orange Pekoe Tea.

Why is our Assam Pekoe Fannings (small leaf) tea still hugely popular after all these years:

1. We buy from some of the top small leaf tea producers in Northern India, illustrious names such as McLeod Russel, The Assam Company and The Amarawati Tea Company Limited.
2. Assam Pekoe Fannings (from the right places) has a beautiful malty, pungent strong and fragrant character that appeals to many British tea drinkers. Assam teas are often used in blends geared towards men due to their strength and pungency. For example, we have offered our Assam Tea with a Chatsford Tea-pot for a Father’s Day gift which always proves popular.
3. Assam teas to this day make up a significant proportion of all popular UK tea brands, although we believe that the tea’s we sell and use in our blends are just that little bit better.

The process that allowed the manufacture of both Assam Broken Orange Pekoe and Assam Pekoe Fannings was invented in 1931 by William McKercher and this process accounts for over 80% of tea production in India. We have written an article relating to the different leaf grades of tea here.

Assam Pekoe Fannings also makes up 50% of our hugely popular English Breakfast blend.