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• Bohea
  Bohea

  noun

  an inferior grade of black tea.
• bohea
  bohea

  noun

  a black Chinese tea, once regarded as the choicest, but now as an inferior grade

Bohea

American  

[boh-hee] / boʊˈhi /

noun

1. an inferior grade of black tea.

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bohea British  

/ bəʊˈhiː /

noun

1. a black Chinese tea, once regarded as the choicest, but now as an inferior grade

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Etymology

Origin of Bohea

1695–1705; < dialectal Chinese (Fujian) Bu-i, mountains on the border of Fujian and Jiangxi provinces, where the tea is grown

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Bohea bohea

Next, I stepped into Oliver Pluff’s Tea Shop, which blends historically significant teas, like Colonial Bohea, recorded among the varieties tossed into Boston Harbor in 1773.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 2, 2026

At Barrett’s apothecary, Eliza purchased jalap and Bohea tea.

From "Fever 1793" by Laurie Halse Anderson

People got to know him—quite important people, men who handled millions carelessly, like Julius Bohea, and Important Persons whose faces are familiar to the people of Britain, such as the Right Hon. George Parkinson Chenney.

From Bones in London by Wallace, Edgar

Therefore it was necessary to look up the original Melvill stock of Bohea.

From Tea Leaves Being a Collection of Letters and Documents relating to the shipment of Tea to the American Colonies in the year 1773, by the East India Tea Company. (With an introduction, notes, and biographical notices of the Boston Tea Party) by Drake, Francis S. (Francis Samuel)

Bohea, 562,421 Singlo, 22,546 Hyson, 5,285 Souchong, 2,392 Congou, 6,015 ——— Total lbs.,

From Tea Leaves Being a Collection of Letters and Documents relating to the shipment of Tea to the American Colonies in the year 1773, by the East India Tea Company. (With an introduction, notes, and biographical notices of the Boston Tea Party) by Drake, Francis S. (Francis Samuel)

Dr. Cunningham, physician to the English settlement at Cimsan, and Kampfer assert, that the bohea is the leaves of the first collection.

From A Treatise on Foreign Teas Abstracted From An Ingenious Work, Lately Published, Entitled An Essay On the Nerves by Smith, Hugh

John sent the tea from o'er the sea, with heavy duties rated; But whether hyson or bohea, I never heard it stated.

From De La Salle Fifth Reader by Christian Brothers

It is remarkable that no satisfactory account has yet been given in what the bohea differs from the green tea.

From A Treatise on Foreign Teas Abstracted From An Ingenious Work, Lately Published, Entitled An Essay On the Nerves by Smith, Hugh

These being found in greater quantities in bohea than in green teas, those who have very sensible and elastic nerves must be seized with a greater tremor after drinking the former than the latter.

From A Treatise on Foreign Teas Abstracted From An Ingenious Work, Lately Published, Entitled An Essay On the Nerves by Smith, Hugh

Green tea is less wholesome than black or bohea.

From The Cook and Housekeeper's Complete and Universal Dictionary; Including a System of Modern Cookery, in all Its Various Branches, Adapted to the Use of Private Families by Eaton, Mary, fl. 1823-1849