Ceylon Tea: The Art of Manufacture

Fresh tea leaf is plucked from very early morning hours on the slopes by nimble hands and collected and dispatched to the factory for manufacture. The great taste and flavor of Ceylon tea is arrived through an orthodox manufacture process which has been crafted and honed by generations of tea planters. Before the tea leaf becomes lifeless and limp, the load is quickly spread on the troughs where withering takes place. This is an important segment in the sequence, for it is necessary for the leaf to get rid of a fair percentage of its moisture or else it will spoil or even rot away. Once the moisture has thus been reduced, the still green leaf is subject to rolling. Where once this was done manually, in the present day, rolling machines accomplish this process. With ease and efficiency, rolling is important. In this way the cells of the leaf are bruised, though not mangled. Thus the polyphenols are released into the bulk of the tea being processed. This paves the way for the next phase. Roll breaking is where the particulate size is reduced and separated. The green leaf now somewhat reduced in size is collected and placed aside for a stipulated time until oxidation occurs. This process is also sometimes referred to as fermentation. But what really does happen is a chemical change that converts the green leaf to take on a very definite brown appearance. At this stage the forming of the characteristic flavour is at its optimum. But even here there is an exactitude that must be obeyed. Oxidize the leaf for too long and the flavour is irretrievably lost. The fermentation must halt at the precise point. Experienced tea makers know of this through years of experience and by way of an educated nose. The process is halted with the final process known as firing. This involves the brown or blackened leaf being subject to high heat, generated in the furnace of the factory. This not only halts the fermentation but dries out the leaf, locking in the delightful flavour and aroma in the particles of black tea. Orthodox Ceylon tea has also recognized grades. This has much to do with the particulate size with mechanized sieves being used. The finest granular tea comes right down to the bottom most trough and is often called dust. Though called dust one must never confuse it with refuse for it isn't. It's just made up of smaller particles and yet carries the fullest flavour and noble colour of the tea. The tea after grading is quickly sent for packing in sealed containers, be they boxers or multi-layered paper sacks. This too is a part of the old tradition and every batch of tea is dated and the boxers stamped with precision and the identity carefully noted. While the important sample of the batch is separately packed, signed and sealed, these are the very instruments that make their way to the weekly tea auction in Colombo, the commercial capital of Sri Lanka. It is here that the buyers are able to offer the varied prices for teas that are brought to the market.