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Camellia sinensis is indigenous to China and parts of India. Earlier the wild tea plant can develop to 30 meters high, so that monkeys were trained to pick the leaves and throw them down for collection below. Today, under cultivation, Camellia Sinensis is kept to a height of approximately one meter for easy plucking purposes. It is cultivated as a plantation crop. Tea’s developing its own character and taste owns to individual planting and depends on the direction of the growing slopes and weather conditions at the time of plucking leaf and manufacturing from green leaf to black tea.

Tea breaks down into three basic types: black, green and oolong. Black tea is fully oxidized or fermented and yields a hearty-flavored, amber brew. It undergoes five manufacturing stages referred to as withering, rolling, fermenting, firing and sorting. Green tea is the unfermented form. It has a more delicate taste and is light green/golden in color. The leaves are steamed in order to inactivate the enzymes after which it undergoes rolling, firing and sorting. Oolong tea is partly oxidized, prepared by series of withering, gentle rolling and drying steps and is a cross between black and green tea in color and taste. Herbal teas contain no true tealeaves. They are created from the flowers, berries, peels, seeds, leaves and roots of many different plants.

Cultivation

Tea bushes are planted - from 1 metre to 1.5 metres apart - to follow the natural contours of the landscape, sometimes growing on specially prepared terraces to help irrigation and to prevent erosion. Young plants are raised from cuttings obtained from a mother bush and they are carefully tendered in special nursery beds until 12 - 15 months old. They are then planted out in the tea fields. The mother bush is a strong, rich plant carefully selected for propagation. Pruning and Plucking When the plant develops to a height of about half a meter above ground, it is cut back - pruned to within a few inches off the ground to set it on course to develop into a flat-topped bush. Generally, a tea bush is 1 to 1 1/2 meters in height. Regular 2 to 3 year pruning cycles encourage the supply of shoots - the flush that is plucked every week to ten days. The activity of harvesting fresh young shoots from the mature tea bushes is known as plucking. Each pluck takes only the flush - 'two leaves and a bud' of tender and succulent fresh growth. Within a week to ten days the bushes grow new shoots. This skilled job is traditionally carried out by women, who are expert at picking the shoots, breaking them off by twisting the leaves and bud in their fingers, and deftly throwing handfuls of shoots into the carrier baskets resting on their backs. The field operation is now complete and preparation for manufacture now occurs in the tea factory.

Withering and Rolling

For withering, the shoots are spread out evenly on trays, nylon nets, fine meshed screen wire trays, racks or shelves. Withering may be conducted in open sheds by utilizing the effect of natural breezes and air currents to wilt the leaves or, in special facilities with controlled heating and ventilating equipment. Regardless of the processes used, the leaves are withered so that moisture content is reduced from 70-0% to 50% and leaf conditions become limp and flaccid, suitable for rolling.

The aim of rolling is to twist the leaves through a mechanical process, in order to rupture the cells. During this process the phenols from the sap and enzymes from the cytoplasm are liberated and mixed, preparing the leaf to go through to the next stage of processing. A wide range of equipment can be used for this process, including the traditional processes such as orthodox method or rotavane or the C.T.C .

Fermentation

Fermentation or oxidization is the most important stage in the manufacture of black tea, and this process makes it uniquely different from all other teas. Fermentation is carried out in custom-designed fermentation rooms. Depending on the temperature, maceration technique and the style of tea desired, the fermentation time range from 45 minutes to 3 hours. The characteristic coppery color and fermented tea aroma judge the completion of fermenting.

Firing and Bulk Packaging

Firing halts the fermentation process by subjecting the leaves to a current of hot air. Heat destroys the specific shapes of the enzyme proteins and therefore their activity 90 – 100 oC temperatures are required for about 20-25 minutes to produce black fermented tea with a moisture content of 2-3 per cent. The dried tea is sorted into different grades by passing it over a series of vibrating screens of different mesh sizes. The passage of teas through this system gives a number of grades with more or less evenly sized particles. They are traded under a wide variety of traditional names.

Leaf Grades

Pekoe: Whole leaf black tea produced by a medium plucking of the second leaf on the tea bush. The word Pekoe comes from the Chinese meaning 'white hair' and was originally applied to the early tea packings, due to the white down on the backs of the young leaf tea.

Broken Orange Pekoe: BOP, black tea comprising broken segments of somewhat coarser leaf, without tip. Can be applied to both Orthodox and CTC teas.

Fannings: Small grainy particles of leaf (1 to 1.5 millimeters) sifted out of better grade teas. Fannings will make a liquor that is often as good as that of a whole leaf grade and its grade which applies to both Orthodox and CTC teas. In the Orthodox teas fannings will include broken orange pekoe fannings (BFOP) and golden orange pekoe fannings (GOPF) which describe the amount of tips in a grade.