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

The botanical Thea Bohea comes into our pots, with refuse Congou, as Canton Bohea.

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

The mother, wife, or daughter,— That night, instead of best Bohea, Condemned to milk and water!

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)

The freight of a whole chest of Bohea to St. Eustatius, one of the Dutch West India Islands, comes to about 7-1/4s. pr chest.

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)