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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

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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

I could not refuse so kind an offer, and at the vulgar hour of six, behold us sipping our Bohea out of porringers, with good Jamaica stuff in it in lieu of milk.

From A Sailor of King George by A. Beckford Bevan

What kind will you take—shall it be Old Hyson, Bohea, or Twankey?”

From Daughters of the Revolution and Their Times 1769 - 1776 A Historical Romance by Charles Carleton Coffin

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

Green and bohea teas were sold at the Boston apothecaries' in 1712.

From Home Life in Colonial Days by Alice Morse Earle

He begins by refuting a popular notion, that bohea and green tea are leaves of the same shrub, gathered at different times of the year.

From The Works of Samuel Johnson, Volume 06 Reviews, Political Tracts, and Lives of Eminent Persons by Samuel Johnson

At Canton, green and black teas are made from the Thea bohea at the pleasure of the manufacturer, and according to demand.

From Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 442 Volume 17, New Series, June 19, 1852 by William Chambers

Now it was the custom for one of the mistresses to carry Miss Pew's tea-tray, and to attend at her bedside while she sipped her bohea and munched her toast.

From The Golden Calf by M. E. (Mary Elizabeth) Braddon

I'm an old done dame, and it was wiser for the like of me to be sitting knitting at the fire than going on diverts to their bohea parties and clashing supper tables.

From Gilian The Dreamer His Fancy, His Love and Adventure by Neil Munro

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