What does bohea mean?
Bohea is a noun denoting a variety or grade of black tea that comes from China, historically regarded as one of the darker and more common sorts shipped to Western markets. Named after the Bohea Hills (the Wuyi Mountains) in Fujian province, the word entered English in the late seventeenth century as tea drinking took hold in Britain and its colonies. Throughout the eighteenth century, bohea was a household staple across Europe and North America, so much so that it served almost as a generic term for everyday black tea; during the pre-Revolutionary boycotts in America, refusing bohea became a visible gesture of political resistance. Today the word survives mainly in historical and literary contexts, evoking the teacups of merchants, sailors, and colonists. For readers of period fiction or economic history, bohea is a small but flavorful window into the age when tea first became a global commodity.
nounA grade of dark, somewhat inferior black tea, especially the kind exported from China to Europe in the 18th century; by extension, any cheap or common black tea.
- An inferior grade of Chinese black tea, historically exported widely to Britain and America.
- (Figurative or extended) any cheap, ordinary black tea.
"The tavern keeper poured a cup of strong bohea for each of his weary guests."
"The merchant's ledger recorded forty chests of bohea bound for London."
"She brewed the humble bohea without ceremony and drank it by the fire."
Rarely pluralized; usually treated as a mass noun referring to the tea itself.
"The cargo manifest listed several chests among the ship's boheas."
Bohea was once such a staple of colonial American life that when patriots boycotted tea before the Revolution, giving up your daily bohea became an act of political defiance.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of bohea
The word bohea derives from the name of the Wuyi (Bohea) Mountains in Fujian province, China, a major source of black tea; it came into English via trade in the late seventeenth century, likely through Dutch or directly from a southern Chinese pronunciation. It belongs to the family of tea-trade loanwords from Chinese, alongside congou, souchong, and pekoe, all names of specific tea grades adopted into European languages.
How bohea is actually used
Bohea is now chiefly historical or literary, appearing in writing about 18th- and early 19th-century trade, domestic life, and the American colonial period. In its day it denoted the cheaper end of the tea market, so it can carry faint connotations of plainness or thrift. The word is rarely used in modern commercial tea vocabulary.
Easily confused with bohea
Bokhara refers to rugs or a Central Asian region, whereas bohea is a variety of Chinese black tea.