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

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

You will drink a dish of Bohea with me, before you go?

From The Black Moth A Romance of the XVIIIth Century by Heyer, Georgette

Bohea, named from the hills we talked of, is the lowest quality of black tea, though good Bohea is better than a middling quality of Congou.

From The International Monthly, Volume 4, No. 1, August, 1851 by Various

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

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