What is Tea?
Tea is one of the most popular beverage in the world that also offers a wide collection of health benefits. It has a wide variety of flavours and rich aromas ranging from fruity, sweet, floral to cooling, slightly bitter, grassy notes. There is definitely a flavour for everyone to enjoy. From crop to cup, we will break down how tea is produced.
There are different types of tea. The true teas such as black tea, green tea, oolong tea, and white tea comes from the tea plant called Camellia Sinensis. Although the tea leaves come from the same tea plant, they differ due to the production process. On the other hand, herbal teas are produced by mixing spices, flowers, or fruits. As a result, herbal teas are categorized differently from true teas since they do not contain the tea leaves from Camellia Sinensis.
How is Tea Produced?
The Cultivation
As mentioned before, teas have a variety of flavours and aromas and this mostly comes from the interaction of the plant with its environments. The terroir such as the quality of soil, ecosystem, as well as the climate contributes to the tea's flavours and aromatics. The combination of good genetics tea plant and a ideal terroir tends to produce high quality tea. The Camellia Sinensis plant thrives in tropical and subtropical climates. It prefers rocky and steep, acidic soil with significant amount of rainfall for the optimal growing conditions.
Additionally, the speed at which the tea plant grows can determine whether the tea will produce a strong flavour. In general, when the tea leaves grow too quickly, it does not have time to build up enough intensity and richness of the flavour. One of the factors that can contribute to the speed of growth is the climate. Higher quality tea are usually grown in higher altitude. The environment up there tends to be colder which makes the plant grow slower and gives it more time to absorb the nutrients. However, the condition should not be too cold that the plant develops frost which will damage the tea leaves. On the other hand, lower altitude provides the tea plant a warmer climate which makes it grow quickly.
The Harvest
The Camellia Sinensis keeps on flushing (producing tea leaves) all year round. As a result, the same tea plant can produce very different qualities of tea throughout the year. In general, the first flush or the first season of harvesting of the tea leaves tends to give higher quality. This is usually in spring since the tea plant will just come out of the hibernation and have been absorbing all nutrients. This results in very rich tea leaves.
The tea leaves are generally hand-plucked from the tea plant at a tea garden or tea plantation and placed into a wicker baskets. The collected tea leaves are then given to the tea master for inspections. This inspections ensure the quality of the tea leaves and the broken or damaged tea leaves are typically discarded. The tea leaves will also be sorted based on the size, type, appearance as well as the method used for cultivating and harvesting.
How the Tea Leaves are Processed?
You might be wondering, if all true teas such as black tea, green tea, white tea, and oolong tea come from the same tea plant then how are they different? What makes them different is during the oxidation stage of which the tea leaves are processed. There are two common methods used to process the tea leaves: The Orthodox Method and CTC Method.
Orthodox Method
The Orthodox Method have 4 steps that the tea leaves undergo to achieve the desired tea type.
1. Withering
After the tea leaves have been plucked from the tea plant and brought to the facility, it will be full of moisture. The first stage is to reduce the water content so that the leaves can be rolled without flaking. This is accomplished by laying the leaves on a wire mesh surface or a bamboo tray. Air is then passed over to gently dry the tea leaves out. This usually take about 12 to 18 hours before the tea leaves are bendy and ready to be rolled.
2. Rolling
The next step after the tea leaves have withered is to roll them. This will promote the oxidation. In the past, tea leaves were rolled by hand. However, most factories now are done through a rolling machine, which rotates horizontally on a rolling table. This will make the process quicker.
As the tea leaves are rolled, it breaks them up which releases essential oils that reacts to the oxygen to develop the flavour and aroma. This will start the next stage which is the oxidation
3. Oxidation
This next stage is also known as the fermentation and it will determine the tea's colour, taste and its strength. During the oxidation process, the tea leaves are maintained in a warm, moist environment. The enzymes inside the leaves will react with the air around them and change colour. The type of tea will vary in this process. In general, green tea and white tea are not oxidized and will maintain their green colour and vegetal flavour. Teas such as oolong are considered to be semi-oxidized since they only go through this for a short period of time. They will generally have a light brown to yellow colour and offers more mild flavour. Teas, such as black tea, are considered to be fully oxidized. They will have a reddish brown or copper colour and have a strong bolder flavour.
4. Drying
The last step is dry the tea leaves. This will stop the oxidation process and further reduces the tea leaves water content to about 3 percent. The method of drying will depend on the tea producers preference. This could be through sun drying, baking, or firing. The tea leaves will then be sorted and packed. They will either be packed as loose-leaf teas or the residues are collected and reserve for tea bags.
CTC Method
The second method of processing tea is called the "Cut, Tear and Curl" Method or CTC Method. Similar to the Orthodox Method, the tea leaves will undergo all the same stages. However, during the rolling stage, the tea leaves are placed into a machine that shreds the tea leaves. This breaks down the tea leaves into smaller pieces and are generally used for tea bags.
What is Tea Blending?
You may have also seen other tea flavours around aside from the ordinary black tea, green tea, etc. These are usually produced from tea blending. We can cover this topic at a future article but it is essentially combining teas and/or other ingredients to create new flavours. Sounds simply but may requires the right blends to achieve a unique taste.
What is your Cuppa Tea?
Whether you are new or experience in the world of tea, hope this provides more insight to the effort put into creating each cup of tea. From loose leaf tea to tea bags or black tea to green tea, there is a cup for every tea lover to enjoy.
caringcuppatea
Sources:
https://hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/duke_energy/Camellia_sinensis.html