How tea is produced

Top quality tea is hand plucked, and the best tea comes from the new “shoots”—the top two leaves and the bud of this shoot (it takes 4.5 pounds of Green leaf produce one pound of black tea). After transport from the fields, the Green leaf is placed upon the wire screen on large beds. (The beds are raised off the floor by about 2-3 feet and the bottom of the bed is enclosed). At the end of the enclosures are large fans, which push or pull ambient temperature and humid air through the evenly distributed tea on the bed. If the tea is wet on account of rain, slightly heated air is pushed up through the tea to assist in the evaporation of the water. The team remains on the bed for about 12-16 hours depending upon the humidity in the ambient air. During this process the tea withers and loses about 50% off its moisture content.

From the withering beds the tea then passes through tea machinery (primarily CPC or Orthodox) where the leaf is crushed and the cells of leaf are broken. The cells released the essential juices of the tealeaf. Immediately following this process the tea, which now looks like a green mash at this point, is allowed to ferment (in the case of black tea). If the tea producers are making green tea, the tea goes immediately into the dryer. The fermentation process takes roughly one hour, depending upon ambient temperature and humidity. During this time it turns to a golden brown from an iridescent green.

Immediately after fermenting the tea, it is fired. The drying process takes about 20 minutes at an average temperature of 2120 Fahrenheit or 1000 Celsius. The drying process turns the black tea and locks in its flavor.

Following the drying/firing the tea is sorted by passing through a series of matches, gradients of large screens down to very small screens. The waste factor with the dust/stock is less than 2%. The cleanest teas (teas with no stock) with a moisture content of less than 4% will hold their quality for two years. The higher the quality, the longer the tea keeps its characteristics.

It should be noted that nothing is added to the tea in the manufacturing process making tea a 100% natural product.

How tea is produced [video]