Ceylon tea

Ceylon teas are basically Sri Lankan teas. Ceylon enjoys some martial advantages concerning the suitability of the tea plant to its specific features. Climate and plantation altitudes are very favorable to the growth of tea on the island.

Ceylon tea varies considerably in flavor according to the elevation and district in which the estate is situated.

Teas from the estates in the low country have practically no distinctive flavor; while a choice flavor is produced by estates of medium elevation, and a very choice lemon favor is characteristics of tea grown in certain areas and in districts more than 6,000 feet above sea level.

Humid air and ample rainfall furthered the development of the plant and shortened the growing period. Usually it takes between three and six years until the tea shrub finally becomes productive. But under favorable conditions Ceylon teas can be plucked for the first time after two (lower elevations) to five years (higher elevations).

Most of Ceylon’s tea production takes part in two areas in the South West of the country at between 3000 and 8000 feet above sea-level.

Ceylon tea is widely acknowledged as the finest in the world. Ceylon planters consider their product more carefully plucked, culled and prepared and Ceylon’s tea is known as a high quality product that regularly fetches a premium price on the world market for most grades.

In general terms a good quality black Ceylon tea will deliver a bright golden color and a brisk, crisp taste with reminiscence of citrus.
Ceylon tea

Packing of tea

Tea is a hygroscopic material and it absorbs moisture during cooling and sorting. The amount of moisture uptake depends on the ambient temperature and humidity to which it is exposed.

The larger particles of tea are often cut into smaller bits and with the help of cutting machines before grading.

The grading of tea only refers to size of the processed leaf not the quality or flavor.

In term of packaging, for centuries the preferred method of packaging tea for transport was in the form of compressed cakes or bricks – this allowed greater value to be packed into a smaller volume. The earliest Dai (people of southeastern Himalayas) method of preserving and packaging tea was in bamboo.

Leaves were tamped into a bamboo section; the tea emerged as a hard thick cylinder when the bamboo was cracked open.

Modern packaging provides evidence of tampering, prolongs shelf life and assures aroma retention. Sales are further stimulated by enhancing presentation through attractive packaging.

Packing materials play an important role in product quality; teas stored in aluminum foil pouches and LDPE (low density polyethylene) bags retain their quality better than jute bags lined with polyethylene.

Retail packaging divides into two categories. Consumer packs consist of hard and soft formats. Marketing and promotion play a pivotal role in establishing the popularity of hard packs over soft packs and vice versa.
Packing of tea

Darjeeling tea

Darjeeling, a hill station on the Himalaya, is situated at an altitude of 7000 feet. It produced the world’s finest tea which has often been called the ‘champagne of tea’.

Darjeeling tea is what it is because of its quality, reputation and characteristics, all of which are essentially attributable to its geographical origin.

Indian Darjeeling tea enjoys a reputation as one of the best teas for flavor and quality. For probably more than 150 years it has been grown and produced in privately owned tea gardens.

The tea is grown at various altitudes up to 6,500 feet although the average is between 3,000 and 4,000 feet.

Darjeeling tea that is worthy of its name cannot be grown or manufactured anywhere else in the world. It cannot be replicating anywhere. It is protected by the Tea Board and the Ministry of Commerce under the norms of the TRIPS Agreement of the WTO.

Darjeeling teas are characterized by the presence of an abundance of fine hairy growth on the underside of the leaf on the bud and sometimes even on the stalk. This pubescence is called ‘tip’ and it is the ‘tippy’ teas that denote quality.
Darjeeling tea

Tea leaf grading

The grading begins by labeling the tea leaves according to the country and estate where they were grown. The origin of the tea must be known as well as the leaf grade in order to have any basis for judging quality even roughly.

The labeling automatically tells a tea –grading expert much about the climate and soil conditions, which will affect the overall quality of the tea.

After variety of tea leaves and the geographic location are identified teas are further classified according to whether they are whole or broken into smaller-sized pieces.

The grading of the tea leaf differs by country and by recessing method. For example, black teas are usually divided into 2 categories: whole leaf and broken leaf.

Whole leaves
*Flowering orange pekoe – the first two leaves and leaf bud of the first growth in a season. The highest grade
*Pekoe
*Orange pekoe – popular in South America
*Pekoe souchong

Broken leaves
*Broken pekoe
*Broken orange pekoe
*Broken souchong
*Fanning – left over after higher grades of tea gathered to be sold
*Dust – fanning with extremely small particles

The large coarse leaves are usually put through cutting machines to reduce their size to the particular grades desired. Fragments remaining after the grading process are sold as fannings and dust.

Broken grades consist of smaller, broken leaves. These teas infuse faster and yield more flavour and fragrance.

Broken grades of tea are preferred, nowadays, in the United Kingdom because of their superior liquoring qualities and in the United States because of their suitability for use in tea bags.

After grading, teas are either packed as ‘speciality’ teas or blending with other teas.
Tea leaf grading

Withering of tea

Physically withering is partially reduces moisture content and conditions the leaf physically and biochemically for the subsequent stages of manufacture.

The withering of tea leaves is the first step in processing black tea. The loss of water in fresh leaves makes it easier for the subsequent rolling and fermenting.

During this stage, the cell sap become more concentrated and cell membrane permeability increases.

In tea withering, green tea leaves are spread over a wire-netted platform and trough. A fan driven by induction motor pushes air from below the platform to dry the tea leaves. During this withering process water vaporizes and the rate of water evaporation is related to the humidity and temperature.

Withering optimization can take anywhere from 6 hours under artificial air and temperature conditions up to 18 hours under natural conditions.

Withering will increases the amino acids for aroma formation, caffeine for cup character, and organic acids for flavor.

Chemical withering is the key process for formation of white tea color, essential to activate the enzyme polyphenol oxidase and peroxidase for color development of white tea.
Withering of tea

Good quality of tea

The quality of tea is the summation of the desirable attributes comprising internal and external things like aroma, flavor, strength, color and briskness.

Some high quality teas are perceived to be bitter in the mouth and sweet in the throat. For other high quality teas, bitter and astringent have negative connotations with aromatic, sweet and delicate are desired characteristics.

The quality of tea varies from garden to garden. Although the qualities of second flush it is still the best quality. This means good quality tea should be able to give several infusions from the same leaves.

The good quality tea also once adding with water, it will quickly sink to the bottom of the cup.

Gold tip or tippy eta leaves are considered to be of good quality. Hand-rolled tea leaves have a better tip than machine rolled ones.

The factors affecting the quality of include:
*Polyphenol and the enzyme content in tea leaves.
*The finest tea is from higher elevations of 900-2100 meters. Many high quality tea plants are cultivated at elevations of up to 1500 meters.
*Soil
*Processing technique

In general tea in bags is not of as good a quality as loose tea. But many of the better tea companies are combining the quality of loose tea with the ease and convenience of a tea bag with great success.
Good quality of tea