Darjeeling tea
has a highly customised system of manufacture, catering to the needs
and tastes of particular countries or individuals. In the UK, for
example, a stronger tea is preferred as opposed to Japan where a lighter
tea is more popular.
A fine Darjeeling begins its journey at the gardens where it is
picked. The soil, elevation, rain, drainage, and overall weather affect
the growth and quality of the tea. The expert pickers begin work at 7
a.m. when the leaves are still covered in dew and the pick until 4 p.m.
The pickers carefully choose only the fine top "two leaves and a bud."
They bring their bounty to the factory to be weighed two or three times a
day because the leaf has to start the processing close to when it is
picked, as it will otherwise begin changing chemically in the basket.
The
Orthodox style of manufacture used in Darjeeling requires much time and
care. After weighing, the leaves are spread out on troughs with the
utmost of care, because if the leaves break, quality automatically
begins to degrade, and this may damage the tea so much that it cannot be
rolled. It is on these troughs that the process of withering, or
removal of moisture, is carried out. Many say that the quality of a
Darjeeling's taste is "in the wither" and the tea garden managers pay
particular attention to this stage of manufacture. Withering of the
leaves can take anywhere between 2 hours to 20 hours depending on the
humidity, climate, and time of year. Cool air fans are used to remove up
to75% of the moisture from the leaves. If, however, the leaves are wet
from moisture or rain, this cool air is replaced with hot air. In the
Unorthodox manufacture only 30% of moisture needs to be removed, and
withering can be completed in 2 or 3 hours, as hot air is always used.
This method is never used for
Darjeeling tea.
The
tea
is then rolled on a rolling machine which twists the leaf. The main
purpose of this step is to prepare the leaf for fermenting by rupturing
the cell membranes so that oxygen begins to act with its polyphenols, a
main element of tea, also called catechins. Care is taken not to provide
too much heat from the friction of the rollers because this can damage
the essential oils, which are developed during this time. Some very
delicate teas are rolled by hand.
Tea
is then brought to the "fermentation room," where the tea is oxidized
over a period of two to four hours. The rolling and oxidation processes
require the tea to be exposed to cool, fresh air. This part of the
factory is thus usually left open to the mountain air.
The leaf
is then taken for "firing," or, drying, to stop further fermentation by
deactivating the enzymes, and to remove almost all of the remaining
moisture in the leaf, hopefully down to about 2% moisture content. The
tea dryer exposes the leaves to hot dry air at regulated, varying
temperatures for 20 or 30 minutes. Tea is then graded by size through
vibrating wire mesh sifters. Very delicate teas are hand sifted with
flat baskets with various sized openings. The broken tea leaves and tea
dust are of poor quality and are used mainly in tea bags, while the
whole leaves are of the highest quality.
Regular observation
and control of temperature, humidity, duration and rate of moisture loss
are all vital, and human observation through all of the senses is the
only way to coax the best flavour and texture out of the leaves.
Experienced tea managers assess moisture content merely by sight and
touch. Smell and look of the leaves in the fermentation room set the
timing for drying and so on. Of course, the final stage of crafting the
tea is to taste it, and Darjeeling planters have a finely tuned sense
of taste and a language to describe it that is all their own.
Authors Bio:
Rickey
is working in
The Tea Trove and also an avid blogger. He writes
regularly on several blogs. Like in this article he writes about the
preparation of Darjeeling Tea
