Five refined stages of craftsmanship from morning plucking to master sifting.
Plucking tea by hand is a traditional way of picking tea leaves, which can be divided into four ways. The first one is Zhe Cai, which means breaking off the tea.
Only the most tender apical shoots are selected in the morning mist, ensuring the natural essential oils and enzymes remain pristine.
During withering, the moisture content in the leaf is reduced making the leaf flaccid and pliable and preparing the leaf for further processing.
This critical physical and biochemical transformation makes the leaf pliable, rubbery, and ready to withstand high-speed mechanical CTC cutting without shattering.
Oxidation is a bio-chemical, enzymatic activity. In oxidation the host material absorbs oxygen and as a result, transforms. Please see the following points for a better understanding of oxidation.
The color shifts from bright green to a radiant copper-penny glow, filling the factory with sweet, fresh, fruity malt notes.
Heating produces friction which creates heat, an enemy of quality tea production. Thus it is wise not to continually go down the route of excessive runs particularly with Rotorvanes. In the flavoury districts like Uva manufacture can take place after midnight to try and use lower temperature in the rolling rooms, helping the management of the volatile oils expressed in rolling.
Night-time processing and precise temperature control in rolling rooms prevent premature evaporation of essential volatile aromatics.
Sifter sorts tea into pieces of various roughly equal sized teas. Tea is segregated into four main sizes namely, whole leaf, broken, fannings and dust. Tea is further sub-divided into different grades as per the qualities within each of these sizes.
Tasted by master tea sommeliers before being packed in hermetically sealed multi-layer paper sacks for nationwide delivery.
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