PROCESSING STEPS OF TEA
PROCESSING STEPS OF TEA |
1. HARVEST
2. WITHERING
3. ROLLING
4. FERMENTATION
5. DRYING
6. GRADING
7. PACKAGING
HARVEST / MASS
♢ Tea and flowers that include a terminal bud and two young leaves are harvested from the shrubs of Camellia sinensis.
♢ Harvested twice a year in early spring and early summer in late spring.
♢ Harvesting is done by hand when higher quality tea is needed or when the cost of labor is not prohibitive.
WITHERING / WILTING
♢ The tea leaves begin to wilt shortly after being harvested. Withering is used to remove excess water from the leaves and allow for very slight oxidation.
♢ The leaves can be placed in the sun or left in a cool, ventilated room to extract moisture from the leaves.
♢ The process is also important for promoting the breakdown of leaf proteins into free amino acids and increasing the capacity of the released caffeine, which alters the taste of the tea.
DISRUPTION / ROLLING
♢ Tea leaves are brewed or broken to promote and accelerate oxidation. ♢ The leaves can be slightly bruised on one side by shaking them and throwing them on a bamboo tray to put them in the basket.
♢ Destruction of the most extended license can be done with machinery. ♢ Tea leaves are passed to the wedding or where they are crushed and go to the rotor blade.
♢ Leg cutter, grinder and other tools used to grind tea leaves
ROLLING/SHAPING
TEA LEAVES |
[ Image credit by:- Flickr]
♢ The wet tea leaves are then rolled by hand into wrinkled strips or with a rolling machine that rolls the tea on itself.
♢ This rolling action also causes some of the sap, essential oils and uses to escape from the inside of the leaves, further enhancing the flavor of the tea.
OXIDATION / FERMENTATION
♢ For tea that needs oxidation, the leaves are left in an air-conditioned room where they gradually darken.
♢ In some cases, this is accompanied by agitation.
♢ Oxidation occurs during the production of white, oolong and black tea. ♢ Green and yellow tea do not oxidize with steaming or frying techniques.
♢ Both spontaneous and control oxidations occur during tea preparation.
♢ Oxidation in tea preparation officially begins during the drying phase as spontaneous oxidation.
♢ Then gradually accelerate through the next step required to turn the fresh leaf into the black tea finish.
♢ The oxidation process is erroneously called fermentation.
♢ In traditional oxidation the sieved sheet is spread in a 2-3 inch thin layer of 5 to 8 cm on the factory floor on a perforated table or tray.
♢ various aromatic compounds produced by the reaction with sugar and an amino acid such as: -
▪ Green tea - no oxidation
▪ Yellow tea - oxidation
▪ White oolong: a slight spontaneous oxidation occurs from 8 to 15%
▪ Oolong tea - partial oxidation
▪ Black tea - completely oxidized.
FERMENTATION
♢ Fermentation is important in the preparation of black tea.
♢ Leaves must be exposed to bacteria or have inherently bacteria present for fermentation to take place.
Oxygen exposure during the tea brewing process is reduced or eliminated after the REPLACE step for fermentation.
♢ The bacteria needed to start and maintain fermentation are potentially present during the various aspects of its production: -
1. On the leaf surfaces of ancient plants.
2. In the controlled environment of the breeding room where crude is stored at each storm.
FIXATION/KILL GREEN
♢ It is made to stop the oxidation of the tea leaf at a desirable level.
♢ This process is achieved by moderately heating the tea leaves, deactivating their oxidative enzymes.
DRYING
♢ THESE STEPS MUST STOP THE FERMENTATION PROCESS AND SLOWLY REMOVE THE MOISTURE CONTENT WITHOUT THE SMELL OF BURNS, but preserving the intrinsic quality.
♢ This is achieved by passing the fermented tea in a thin layer through conveyors to a dryer where the inlet temperature is maintained between 250 and 280 Fahrenheit and the outlet temperature is between 150 and 200 Fahrenheit.
♢ Proper drying takes 30 to 40 minutes.
GRADING
♢ Before drying the dry tea, the fiber is removed from the stem which affects its quality, passing through fiber separating machines.
♢ The tea is passed through meshes of different sizes which help in the separation into two different grades i.e. orthodox grades and CTC grades i.e. (cut, tear and curl).
PACKAGING
♢ Packaging is the process of preserving the product using the cheapest but most appropriate material taking into account the properties of the product.
♢ Before packing the tea, pass it under strong magnets to prevent any pieces of iron from mixing with the tea.
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