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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.


bohea British  
/ bəʊˈhiː /

noun

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

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

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

His threats are vain, and vain to think To force our girls and wives to drink His vile Bohea!

From Historic Shrines of America Being the Story of One Hundred and Twenty Historic Buildings and the Pioneers Who Made Them Notable by John T. (John Thomson) Faris

Bohea tea came in 1713, and in 1715 tea was sold in the coffee-houses.

From Customs and Fashions in Old New England by Alice Morse Earle

Bohea tea, an inferior kind of black tea.

From Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (2nd 100 Pages) by Noah Webster

I am a student, a hard-working, book-devouring, never-wearied student, who burns her midnight oil, and drinks the strong bohea, to keep her awake during the long hours of toil, like any Oxford or Cambridge undergraduate.

From The Romance of Mathematics Being the Original Researches of a Lady Professor of Girtham College in Polemical Science, with some Account of the Social Properties of a Conic; Equations to Brain Waves; Social Forces; and the Laws of Political Motion. by P. Hampson

My dear G--- The pain in my knee Would not suffer me To drink your bohea.

From Springtime and Other Essays by Sir Francis Darwin

O had I rather unadmired remained In some lone isle, or distant northern land, Where the gilt chariot never marked the way, Where none learn ombre, none e'er taste bohea!

From The Rape of the Lock and Other Poems by Alexander Pope

To have the Spectator served up every morning with the bohea and rolls, was a luxury for the few.

From Critical and Historical Essays, Volume III (of 3) by Thomas Babington Macaulay, Baron Macaulay

"I want to know," asked Miss Pinkerton, sipping her bohea, "if you believe there's any truth in the report of Florence Howard's engagement with Rufus Malcome, Mrs. Allen?"

From Eventide A Series of Tales and Poems by Effie Afton

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