ForLoversofTea by Dilmah

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During this process, hot air is passed over the tea leaves to de-activate fermenting enzymes. Firing also reduces the moisture level to 2-3%. This is critical as incomplete inactivation can cause accelerated deterioration of quality. The tea goes into a large over that dries trays of the leaf as they move over a series of conveyor belts. Or the oxidised leaf is passed through a ‘fluid bed dryer’ (FBD) which blows a moving stream of tea through the hot air and ensures a more even drying. This crucial part of the process which seals in the flavour, needs careful monitoring as too much heat for too long will spoil the tea, while too little heat for too short a time will leave too much moisture  in the leaf and so reduces its keeping qualities. The ideal moisture content is between 2% and 3%.

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In the 4th stage - Fermentation, of tea manufacturing processing - the green leaf is converted to black tea. When the leaf comes out of the orthodox, rotorvane or CTC machines, it is spread out on ceramic, concrete or aluminium slabs in cool, humid air to ‘oxidise’ or, in old-fashioned tea vocabulary, to ‘ferment’. This can take as little as 15 minutes in high grown regions during the peak quality season, but may last from 30 minutes to 3 hours out of season when the air is cooler. It is at this stage that a chemical reaction takes place between the oxygen in the air and the contents of the leaf; the leaf changes gradually from green to amber to dark coppery brown and the air is filled with the tea aroma we all recognize when we brew a pot of black tea. The temperature of the leaf is maintained at around 25-30 degrees where mild acidification of the oxidised tea increases the levels of the tea theaflavins. 

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Rolling, the 3rd stage of tea manufacturing processing, of the withered leaf was perfected over centuries, a process which brings out flavour in tea. Rolling assists in establishing proper conditions for enzymatic oxidisation of the flavanols by exposure to oxygen. Two different methods of rolling are available. The ‘orthodox’ rolling machines twist and press the leaf, breaking the cell walls. This ‘orthodox’ rolling evolved from the original, centuries-old, hand rolling used for tea manufacture in China, and is still the most popular method of preparing the leaf for oxidation in Sri Lanka. ‘CTC’ (cut, tear and curl) machines macerate the lead to very small particles that brew very quickly and are generally destined for use in tea bag blends.

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When tea leaves are plucked from the bushes, the moisture content is about 75%, and is then reduced to approximately 45%. The fresh leaf is spread out on withering troughs (previously ‘tats’ made from Hessian stretched over wooden frames) about a foot deep and a flow of cool air helps reduce moisture and lose water content. The leaves are spread in thin layers to allow the warm air of the withering room to circulate for about 18 hours. In most factories, the process is sped up by blowing warm air through tunnels underneath the wire screens that hold the leaf for about 6 hours, depending on the ambient temperature and humidity. Care is needed, for if the air pumped through the lead is too hot, the leaf can dry too quickly and the natural changes in the leaf that are essential to a good quality tea cannot take place.

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For the best teas, as the bushed ‘flush’ to push out their new growth, the pickers remove the first two young leaves and one new leaf bud. The speed at which the new shoots appear depends on altitude, temperature, humidity, wind, sunshine and all other variables that influence the plants. Each morning, the female pickers set off at 7 o’clock to harvest the leaf and bring it into the factories. Dilmah tea is made in the traditional, artisanal manner which requires meticulous care with a personal touch each step of the way. Each leaf that goes into Dilmah tea is plucked by hand, the two leaves and bud plucked by expert pluckers trained in the craft. The pickers’ nimble fingers try to avoid taking too much stalk, coarse leaf or twigs as those add only bulk to the leaf and not flavour. If less than 65% of the plucked lead is made up of neat, high quality shoots of two leaves and a bud, the quality of the made tea will go down and prices will fall.