It is not unknown that tea forms by drenching the processed tea leaves in freshly boiled water. While this may seem like a simple process, its journey from being hand-picked or chopped off to packaged and shipped is not so simple.
There are different classifications of tea depending on the size of leaves and manufacturing procedures. The ones made by other manufacturing procedures are fermented or black tea, semi-fermented or oolong tea, and lastly, unfermented or green tea.
Here Are The Six Steps During Tea Formation
Growth
The first step of tea formation includes growing the plant named Camellia sinensis. The flavor of any finished tea depends on its harvesting procedures and maturing conditions. So, despite this procedure being the fundamental and omnipresent one, it can produce the maximum variation in tea flavor.
The cultivation territory of the plant is the most basic origin of the flavor. Just like different wine grapes grown in other countries taste different, tea flavors also vary from place to place. In this tea-making process, the actual game-changers are the climatic changes, vegetation around the territory, and the soil itself.
To play with the cup’s flavor, farmers can also manually regulate some of the growing conditions of these plants. It is to manage the chemical constitution of the tea. The nature of the tea leaves can change at different elevations or on the texture of the soil. A good example is the phenomenon of harvesting high-quality Japanese green teas. During their growth period, some constructed awnings provide them shade to increase theanine and chlorophyll formation.
Lastly, harvesting the leaves is yet another method to play with the tastes by making variations just at the beginning of the development of the plant. The premium leaves are carefully hand-picked by workers to retain their innate sweetness, but machines process the ones harvested in colossal quantity. In this process, they directly slash the leaves off from the top of the plants. More areas of the leaves are left open to air when they go for faster production. When these chopped leaves are soaked, they immediately release intense flavors. The hand-picked leaves never release their full flavors till you brew them more than once.
Wilting
After the harvesting of the leaves, wilting is the first process in the processing of tea. The tea leaves are waxy and thick on the plant, so to get them craftable, they are withered or softened. These plucked tea leaves are spread on bamboo mats or fabric to allow them to wilt. Modern farmers with utter exactness control the modifiable factors.
The parameters like temperature and humidity are under control constantly. The leaves’ trays rotate to ensure that even air supply to all sides. This process is essential in the formation of green or white teas. The water content of the leaves reduces to half in this process.
