The Compassion Tea Process
All tea begins as a leaf from the Camellia Sinensis plant. There are 1000s of cultivars of this plant. These cultivars along with the elevation, climate, and age of the plant influence the flavors of the tea produced. However, the real difference is in the processing of the leaves.
All white, green , oolong, and black teas are produced from the camellia sinensis plant.
The unfurled bud and the first 2 leaves are the standard “pluck” from each tea plant. White teas are picked from the very first buds in the spring, the first flush. The younger the leaves, the higher quality the tea.
The best teas are hand-picked.
Workers carry the tea on their backs in these specially designed lightweight pouches which prevent the premature crushing of the leaves and which allow workers to pick with both hands. Sticks are laid across the plants to indicate how many leaves to pick. This ensures a consistent pluck and maintains the health of the plants. Each field is given a minimum 8 day rest between harvests.
The tea leaves are assessed for quality and are weighed.
Tea plantation workers are paid by the weight of the tea picked each day. Before the tea is weighed the workers sort their pickings to remove any twigs or extraneous leaves. It takes about 4.5 lbs of fresh tea leaves to create one pound of drinkable tea!
Tea leaves are laid out to wither on vast tables out of the sun.
Sometimes, warm air is pumped up through the bottom of these tables. This allows the leaves to become soft and pliable. During the withering, jasmine petals may be added to create jasmine green tea.
After withering, white teas are gently fired to remove moisture and prevent spoilage.
Green teas may be rolled or shaped before they are fired, steamed, or pan-fried. The use of heat now stops the oxidation process and retains the earthy taste of these teas.
In order to break down the cell wall structures to begin the oxidation process, leaves are either rolled or shaken to create oolong teas or are rolled or cut to create black teas.
The chemical reactions that take place during oxidation add to the color and the tannins in the cup. Oolong teas are oxidized for a shorter period of time than black teas.
Black teas go through roughly 4l trips on the rotor vane to continue the oxidation process.
Then the leaves are sent to the oven to be dried. They are dried in a 125 degree oven for 21 minutes.
As the tea leaves become more stable, they are sent through an electrostatic separator that pulls out any remaining stems or fibers.
Black teas are graded by size. 10, 12, 14, and 16 are the standard sizes.
16 is the smallest and the strongest of the black teas. When it comes to whites, greens, and oolongs, however, the larger the tea leaf, the higher the quality.
Teas from different harvests are blended together in 33 kilo bags to be sent to the auction houses or to specific speciality tea houses.
At the auction houses, the teas are graded on the leaf size, the color of the liquid, and of course, the taste!
These grades will determine the cost of the teas on the auction block. Tea dust, the fine leftovers, will go to the lowest bidders, while the better teas will be purchased by the higher bidding speciality tea houses.
Finally, the tea is packaged for the consumer!