"Kali patti" in English?

[Tait-ka]

Below is "kali patti" which we use to make tea.


What do you call it?

When my wife makes tea for me for my breakfast, she puts two spoons of _______ into the milk.

The above sentence is mine.

 

[probus]

In your example I would call it simply "tea". As you are doubtless aware, kali means black and patti means leaf, so technically it is black tea as opposed to green tea. However, in AmE black tea would be understood by most people as tea without milk.

 

[emsr2d2]

In the UK, we might feel the need to make it clear that it's tea leaves and we might call it "loose tea". That's to make it clear to the reader/listener that we're not going to make tea the way most of us normally do - using teabags!

 

[Tait-ka]

In the UK, we might feel the need to make it clear that it's tea leaves and we might call it "loose tea". That's to make it clear to the reader/listener that we're not going to make tea the way most of us normally do - using teabags!

tea leaves
loose tea
tea
tea leaves powder
loose tea powder
tea powder

Are all of the above suitable to be put in the blank in the sentence I provided in the OP? In other words, can any of the above be used to refer to the black patti shown in the OP?

 

[probus]

The first three are all okay. The last three are not. Powders are made up of fine particles much smaller than tea leaves. Think of talcum powder for example, or the powdered sugar called icing sugar or caster sugar.

 

[Skrej]

Aside from instant teas, I though matcha was the only powdered tea, but I was incorrect. This site offers several tea powders, including Earl Gray.