> Manufacturing Process
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TEATELL
Manufacturing Process 6 |
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Plucking The tender leaves (hand picked to the now legendary stipulation of two leaves and a bud) |
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Withering The prime object of withering is to make the turgid leaf flaccid and prepare the leaf for next stage to facilitate rolling. |
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Rolling Tea leaf is twisted & simultaneously leaf tissue ruptures thus forcing out the cell-sap. |
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Fermentation The leaf changes colour and becomes dark coppery. A typical aroma develops at this stage. |
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Firing Thickness of spread, speed of trays and volume of air blown through are regulated meticulously so as to achieve the correct drying. |
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Sorting & Grading The bulk tea is sorted on mechanically oscillated sieves. The sieve size decreases gradually from top to bottom. |
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Tea Tasting |
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Packing After sorting, the teas are packed and ready for shipping in multi wall craft paper sacks. |
So I must rise at early dawn, as busy as can be, to get my daily labor done, and pluck the leafy tea."
– Ballad of the Tea Pluckers, 1644
The first steps of tea making begin with three little leaves – the three newest or youngest, of the plant called Camellia Sinensis. Shortly after the sun rises in the morning, the dainty fingers of our tea pluckers start picking the bud leaf called the flowery orange pekoe, the second leaf from the top called the orange pekoe and the third leaf from the top known as the pekoe leaf from our acre upon acre of lush, green tea fields.
This bountiful harvest when brought to the factory, goes through the following manufacturing process.
The first stage called withering may take between 10 to 20 hours. Placed on drying racks, the internal moisture of the leaf is brought down to between 60% and 70% of the original moisture making the leaf more pliable and amenable for the next step which is…
Breaking and grinding. When the leaves are placed in the grinding or breaking machines these machines cut or crush the leaf for the purpose of exposing the enzymes inside the cell to further development as a result of coming into contact with oxygen. The process continues till the leaves begin to turn a bright copper color and 2 or 3 hours is generally enough time to accomplish this. After this phase the tea goes into...
the drying operation where the leaves are dried in order to remove the balance of internal moisture until it is down to somewhere between 2% and 7% by weight for between 30 minutes to several hours. The drying operation is exceptionally important in that this is the process which "seals in" all of the flavor and can represent one of the major differences between a mediocre tea and a superb tea even though they may come from the same estate. Following the drying operation...
the tea is exposed to a static electricity roller to remove unwanted leaf stem or vein fiber which adds no flavor to tea but does add additional weight, to make sure you will not be paying for this unnecessary weight.
Packed in multi wall craft paper sacks, the tea is then transported to the buyers thus making sure that the tea in your cup comes directly from our tea gardens to you, with no delays in between.
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My caddie
