In tea cultivation countries, generally only the upper leaf bud and the next two leaves, the youngest ones of a sprout (“two leaves and a bud”) are plucked. This defines specialty tea. Older leaves than these generally have a negative influence on the quality of the finished tea. In higher altitudes with cooler regions, the tea naturally grows slower. This enables the particularly fine, aromatic character to enfold. The harvesting time also has a significant influence on the quality of the tea. The plucking requires a large amount of care as well as skill and is often done by women.

The average plucking capacity amounts to approximately 16 - 24 kg of green leaves per day. This amount yields 4 - 6 kg of finished tea. These harvest amounts vary according to cultivation area, leaf size and production method. Two to three times a day, the green leaves are transported to the factory on the tea farm. The green, fresh leaves are still entirely neutral in scent and first have to be treated in the tea factory, passing through various production steps in order to create an aromatic, orthodox tea.

As opposed to coffee, which is imported as green coffee and receives its final form in the country of consumption via sorting and roasting, tea is already processed on the plantations in the country of origin and then exported in its final form. The most important phases of the treatment with respect to orthodox tea production (which can be used for the production of any type of tea desired as opposed to the later explained CTC production) are: withering, rolling, fermenting, drying and sorting into leaf and broken grades, i. e. sizes. Each of these steps in orthodox production is explained below:

1. WITHERING
The freshly plucked leaves are weighed and then undergo the withering process where the humidity content of the leaves is reduced by about 50% in order to make them soft and flexible for the subsequent rolling.

Nowadays the withering takes place in special withering troughs, which are stringed with a wire grid and ventilated. In earlier times it was done outside on bamboo mats or sheets.

2. ROLLING
Subsequently, the withered green leaves are rolled in large rolling machines. These generally consist of two large, heavy metal plates, which are rotating against each other and are thereby breaking open the cells, bringing the cell fluid into contact with the oxygen in the air.

This introduces the fermentation as well as the development of the essential oils, which then determine the scent and flavour of the teas. The rolled tea, now already starting to ferment, is brought into the fermentation room.

3. FERMENTATION
The quality of the finished tea is very much dependent on the correct fermentation. The fermentation is an oxidation of the cell fluids, which have been released during the rolling. For the fermentation, the leaves are spread out on tables in layers of 10 cm. In modern factories, spraying water from rotating ventilators humidifies the room in which the fermentation takes place. During the fermentation, which takes 2-3 hours depending on the desired taste intensity, the enzymes in the tea leaves develop complex taste profiles with malty, fruity or flowery notes.

4. DRYING
The fermentation is finished when the desired grade of fermentation is reached, i.e. as soon as the tea has developed its typical smell and the copper-red colour. For the subsequent drying process so-called tiered dryers are used which are fuelled with wood or oil.

The tea is moved through the dryer on a conveyor belt. The starting temperature amounts to 90 °C and binds the cell fluid firmly to the leaves.

Towards the end of the 20-minute long drying process, the temperature decreases to 40 °C and the humidity content to approximately 5 %.

The traditional and somewhat more careful drying method is air or sun drying on large bamboo trays outside in the open or under a roof.

Green tea is produced using the same tea plant as black tea, but it differs by not being fermented. The production process is generally the same until after the withering.

During the green tea production, the tea tannins and enzymes are deactivated via steam treatment or roasting after the withering, before the rolling starts – the tea is “steamed” or “pan-fried” and then rolled and dried.

This ensures that the leaves are not coloured copper-red like the black tea leaves, but remain olive-green. The infusion varies depending on the variety, cultivation area and plucking period and can be anything from light yellow to dark green.

This method starts by withering the green leaves, during which the tea looses up to 70 % of its humidity, then rolling them once before they are torn in the CTC machine in between thorned rollers. This ensures that the cells are broken up more thoroughly and quickly than during the orthodox tea production.

CTC tea is of a more intensive colour and is higher yielding. The stems and leaf ribs are extracted to a large extent and only the cut “flesh” of the green leaves is processed further.

Afterwards, the tea is brought into the fermentation room. Depending on the desired leaf size, this process is repeated several times. During the CTC-Production, mainly fanning is produced, no leaf teas and only very few broken teas.

Therefore, CTC teas are very suitable for tea bags. In our assortment you will find very few pure CTC teas while we do use some select CTC teas in a couple of specialty blends.

Matcha, the finely ground green tea from Japan, holds great significance in traditional tea production. Through special cultivation methods, where the tea plants are shaded, a particularly aromatic and nutrient-rich product is created.

Matcha is not only a central part of the traditional tea ceremony but also offers numerous health benefits. The growing demand promotes sustainable cultivation practices and enhances the quality of the tea. In this way, Matcha combines tradition with modern enjoyment and health.

Learn more here about Matcha, its cultivation, and production: