Black tea substitutes

Assam, Ceylon, Kenyan, Darjeeling, Keemun, English Breakfast, Earl Grey or a plain supermarket teabag are all fully oxidised Camellia sinensis and are interchangeable in almost every recipe.

Best for

Persian and Turkish tea, tea eggs and tea-smoking, brines and marinades, cakes, loaves and soaked dried fruit, chai and masala tea

The differences are real but small. Assam is maltiest and darkest and gives the strongest colour, which makes it the best choice for tea eggs or tinting rice. Darjeeling is lightest and most floral and can get lost in a batter. Earl Grey carries bergamot oil, which is lovely in a cake or a poaching syrup and distinctly out of place in a savoury brine. For Persian chai, Ceylon is the usual pick.

Partly oxidised, so it sits between green and black. It brews to a golden brown and behaves much like black tea in the pot.

Best for

brines and poaching liquids, tea-smoked duck or chicken, cakes and custards, iced tea

Noticeably less tannic and more floral, toasty and honeyed. A tea-brined chicken made with oolong tastes subtler and rounder, and a tea cake made with it is less bracing and more perfumed. Because it is gentler, it does not cut through fat and richness the way strong black tea does, so in a very rich dish you may want half again as much.

Same plant, unoxidised. Usable as long as you respect the brewing temperature, since boiling water scalds green tea and makes it harshly bitter within seconds.

Best for

light poaching liquids, iced tea, delicate cakes and ice creams, when you want less caffeine than black tea

Pale yellow-green rather than deep amber, and vegetal and grassy where black tea is malty. This matters more than it sounds: tea eggs, tea-smoked dishes and anything relying on tea for a brown tint come out much lighter and look undercooked. Flavour-wise it reads fresh and slightly savoury rather than robust.

The best caffeine-free stand-in. A South African shrub rather than a tea plant, it brews deep red-brown and, unlike real tea, does not turn bitter no matter how long you steep it.

Best for

caffeine-free versions of anything, colour in cakes, poaching liquids and iced drinks, evening drinking, long simmering

Naturally sweet, woody and slightly vanilla-like, with a beautiful red colour that makes it excellent for tinting. The gap is tannin: rooibos has very little, so it will not give a brine its firming astringency or cut richness the way black tea does, and a rooibos cake tastes softer and sweeter. It also cannot be used to make kombucha.

Brews to a spectacular deep crimson and is naturally tart, so it is the right choice when you want dramatic colour in a cold drink.

Best for

iced drinks and coolers, colour in syrups and jellies, poaching pears or plums, caffeine-free refreshers

The flavour is nothing like tea. Hibiscus is sharply tart, cranberry-like and fruity, so it brings acidity where black tea brings bitterness, and it will change the balance of anything sweet. Excellent as its own thing, misleading as a swap. Never use it where the recipe wants tannin, such as a firming brine.

For recipes where tea is supplying nothing but brown colour and a bitter edge, these do the job with almost no effort.

Best for

dark cakes, gingerbread and fruit loaves, glazes and barbecue sauces, braising liquids, soaking dried fruit

Coffee is recognisably coffee, and much more assertive, so use half as much and never in a delicate custard, a light poaching syrup or anything meant to taste of tea. Instant tea powder is genuinely tea and dissolves instantly, though it tastes flatter and slightly stewed. Neither belongs in a glass of Persian chai.