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Process of Manufacturing Tea

The CTC tea manufacturing process involves several exacting steps: plucking the leaves and buds, withering to reduce moisture, cutting and curling the leaves through rollers to rupture cells and enable fermentation, fermenting to develop character, drying to stop fermentation and remove moisture, sorting and grading by size and quality, storage and packaging, then trading and auctioning to select the finest teas for blending. Tapal Tea experts taste over 700 cups daily to select the highest quality teas to procure.

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Pari Jan
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184 views

Process of Manufacturing Tea

The CTC tea manufacturing process involves several exacting steps: plucking the leaves and buds, withering to reduce moisture, cutting and curling the leaves through rollers to rupture cells and enable fermentation, fermenting to develop character, drying to stop fermentation and remove moisture, sorting and grading by size and quality, storage and packaging, then trading and auctioning to select the finest teas for blending. Tapal Tea experts taste over 700 cups daily to select the highest quality teas to procure.

Uploaded by

Pari Jan
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
Available Formats
Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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PROCESS OF MANUFACTURING TEA

The journey of quality tea starts from the lush tropical tea gardens where it is picked
fresh. The botanical name of the tea plant is “Camellia Sinensis” and it is cultivated at a
variety of tea gardens from China to Kenya.

CTC tea manufacturing follows a number of exacting steps, briefly described as follows:

Plucking – the journey begins


Pluckers are specially trained to only select 2 leaves and a bud, which then make up the
finest tea blends across the globe. The best quality teas are grown at tea gardens at an
altitude of 5000 to 7000 feet above the sea level for optimum taste.

Withering- the next step


During the withering process, the leaf is induced to loose moisture substantially to
prepare it for further processing. Normally this is carried out by spreading tea leaves
thinly on troughs through which warm air is circulated by fans. The average length of
withering time depends greatly on the quality of the leaf peculiar to the region.

Cut Tear Curl (CTC)- the process


When satisfactory withering has taken place, the leaf is ready for rolling. This process
twists the leaf, breaks it up and extracts the juices. The CTC process of rolling is a
comparatively rigorous one for the leaf, which is forced through a machine having two
steel rollers. The rollers have grooves which cut leaves as they pass through them. Leaves
pass though 3 to 4 such rollers, getting reduced in size and their cells are ruptured to
enable fermentation.

The nature of grooves in the CTC rollers determines the gradation of tea; BP1, PF1, PD
or D1 are the main categories. The process delivers much better, thicker liquor and yields
more cups of tea per kg of leaf as compared to the orthodox type of tea.

Fermentation- building character


Normally the tea ferments or oxidizes from 60 to 100 minutes depending upon the leaf
quality and on the prevailing climatic condition. Low humidity conditions retard
fermentation, hence cool humid condition are essential to enable larger retention time for
fermentation. This produces blacker, grainy and heavier teas. The character of the tea
develops significantly during the fermentation process.

Drying – ready to be graded


The next process is known as drying. The objective of drying is to i) arrest fermentation
and ii) remove moisture and produce teas with ideal qualities. The mass of leaf is exposed
to hot air when it passes through a chamber with perforated moving trays. The
temperature of the air blowing through the chamber is rigorously maintained. It takes 15
to 30 minutes to dry the leaf, so the enzymes are fully deactivated. After completion of
the drying process, the tea becomes fully black in color.

Sorting and Grading – quality is judged


Sorting is the operation in which tea granules are separated into various grades
confirming to trade requirements. The process of sorting has two objectives a) to enhance
the value and b) to impart quality.

The basic sorting procedure follows a set pattern:-

i) While the tea is still relatively warm, it is first passed through the minimum of four
slow speed electrostatic fiber extractors to clean it of floating fibers.
ii) The next stage is to divide the bulk tea into grades by passing through the meshes of
24, 20, 16, 10 and 6 to establish the grades.

Storage and Packaging – ready for blending


Tea is a markedly hydroscopic material which mean while cooling and sorting it absorbs
moisture. Before packing tea, the accumulated series of daily batches of each grade are
bulked and mixed to obtain the highest possible degree of unity. Before packing, tea is
passed under powerful magnets to prevent possible pieces of iron mixing with the tea.

Packing is the process of preserving the product, using cost effective yet the most
appropriate material, taking into account the product properties and the specific needs of
the end user.

Trading- selection and sampling


Tea is sold through private contracts or by auction system. The brokers taste the tea
samples, and set the value according to the market conditions.

Auction Process- the best is selected


The brokers then forward the samples to those companies who are entitled to operate in
the weekly auctions. Catalogues are printed with details of the tea gardens, grades etc.
The complete set of pre-auction samples, along with the catalogues, are sent to tea
companies like Tapal so they can taste, evaluate and bid on them in the auction.

Tea Procurement At Tapal – the choice of experts


The skilled tea tasters at Tapal Tea perform the organoleptic tasting of nearly 700 cups
daily to select the best quality tea for various blends and procure them in the auction
through nominated suppliers. Purchased teas are transported through containerized
shipments from their country of origin to reach the factory in the best condition possible.

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