Tea

Harvesting & Processing

Tea harvesting
 Tea harvesting is a laborious task that
requires some training in order to yield
the best results.
Fine & Coarse plucking

 When plucking the

leaves for a high quality
tea, they pluck the bud
and the second and
third leaves only. This is
called fine plucking.
 If more leaves are
taken with the bud it is
said to be a coarse
plucking and produces
a lower quality tea
 Mechanical Tea harvesters

The patented T1000 "magic carpet" tea

harvester presents a revolutionary concept in
the mechanical harvesting of tea. Instead of the
harvester running on wheels or tracks, or being
carried by workers, it runs on top of the tea
bushes
 Tea Harvesting

Machine in Japan Tractor driven

Manual Shears
Tea Leaf Plucking Machine
Tea harvester at Bk Cheeding
Harvesting tea at Bk. Cheeding
Sorting tea leaves after harvest
 Processing

Producing different types of

tea
The general
process
Withering
 The objective of withering is to reduce the
moisture in the tea leaf by up to 70%

 Tea is laid out on a wire mesh in troughs. Air

is then passed through the tea removing the
moisture in a uniform way.

 This process takes around 12 to 17 hours. At

the end of this time the leaf is limp and
pliable and so will roll well.
Rolling
 Tea is placed into a rolling machine, which
rotates horizontally on the rolling table.
 This action creates the twisted wiry looking tea
leaves.
 During the rolling process the leaves are also
broken open, which starts the third process -
oxidisation.
Rolling Machine
Oxidisation (Fermentation)
 Once rolling is complete, the tea is either
put into troughs or laid out on tables
whereby the enzymes inside the tea leaf
come in to contact with the air and start
to oxidise.
 This creates the flavour, colour and
strength of the tea.
Fermentation
Oxidisation (2)
 It is during this process that the tea leaf
changes from green, through light
brown, to a deep brown, and happens at
about 26oC
 This stage is critical to the final flavour of
the tea, if left too long the flavour will be
spoilt.
Oxidisation (3)
 Oxidisation takes from between half an
hour to 2 hours.

This process is monitored constantly

with the use of a thermometer along with
years of experience. The tea then
passes to the final stage of drying.
Drying
 To stop the oxidising process the tea is
passed through hot air dryers.
 This reduces the total moisture content
down to about 3%.
 The oxidisation will be stopped by this
process, and now the dried tea is ready
to be sorted into grades before packing.
Drying
Packing
Processing at Bk. Cheeding
Harvest

CTC Cut, Tear, Curl

Oxidation

Drying

Sorting

Packing
Harvest bins
Tea leaves in harvest bin
Feeding leaves into machine
From bins into machine
Cut-Tear-Curl (CTC)
CTC
Moving on conveyor belt
Part of CTC process
Oxidation bins
Oxidation (Fermentation)
After oxidation to drying
Going into dryer
In dryer
Sorting
Sorting and Packing
Types of Tea and processing
method
 Black tea is withered, fully oxidized and dried.
Black tea yields a hearty, amber-colored brew.
 Green tea skips the oxidizing step. It is simply
withered and then dried. It has a more delicate
taste and is pale green / golden in color.
 Oolong tea, popular in China, is withered,
partially oxidized, and dried. Oolong is a cross
between black and green tea in color and
taste.
 White tea is the least processed. A very rare
tea from China
 STEPS TO PRODUCE GREEN TEA
The freshly plucked leaves are steamed, rolled and
dried so that the green color of chlorophyll is retained.
The fermentation process is omitted.
STEPS TO PRODUCE
BLACK TEA

Black tea
Production of different
types of tea
 Assignments
Organic production of :

i. Coffee , or
ii. Tea
OR
Coffee mixture:
i. 2 in 1
ii. 3 in 1
iii. 4 in 1
iv. 5 in I
OR
Herbal tea

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