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Step 1:
Cultivation
Tea bushes are planted
- from 1 metre to 1.5 metres apart - to follow the
natural contours of the landscape, sometimes growing
on specially prepared terraces to help irrigation
and to prevent erosion. Young plants are raised from
cuttings obtained from a mother bush and they are
carefully tendered in special nursery beds until 12
- 15 months old. They are then planted out in the
tea fields. The mother bush is a strong, rich plant
carefully selected for propagation.
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Step 6:
Drying
This is the process
that stops fermentation and introduces a stable product
of low moisture content between 3.0 to 3.3% that can
be shipped and stored.
It involves the physical removal of moisture and it’s
a crucial process as it seals in all the flavour,
aroma and character created during manufacture, that
are released by brewing. Drying can therefore make
a difference between a mediocre tea and a superb tea
even though they may come from the same factory.
After drying the teas
are then sorted into the four primary grades and three
secondary grades. The sortation is by size and fibre
content. The dry tea is exposed to static electricity-charged
PVC rollers that pickup the fibres and the open leaf.
The thus separated teas are thereafter sorted by size,
and packed .
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Step 2:
Leaf collection
Tea is grown in the field but must be made in a factory.
This is because unlike most herbals that only need
to be dried, commercial tea must be “processed”.
It all begins in one of the small holder tea farms
where the tea grows. All tea is harvested manually;
plucking the top two leaves and the bud (also referred
to as fine plucking). Each pluck takes only the flush
- 'two leaves and a bud' of tender and succulent fresh
growth. Within a week to ten days the bushes grow
new shoots. This skilled job is carried out by picking
the shoots, breaking them off by twisting the leaves
and bud in the fingers, and deftly throwing handfuls
of shoots into the carrier baskets resting on their
backs. The baskets are so designed that they permit
aeration of the leaf to prevent heat generation.
The high standard of fine plucking is the first step
towards superior quality tea manufacture. The interval
between plucking and delivery is kept as short as
possible. As the aphorism goes, “manufacture
starts in the field”. Great care is taken when
transporting green leaf to the factory. This is achieved
by the use of specially designed leaf carriers that
permit air circulation and thus prevent any heat build-up
that would affect the quality of the teas produced.
Annually, the leaf carriers cover a combined distance
of over 1.2billion kilometres in this exercise.
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Step 3:
Preparation (withering )
This is one of the most expensive
processes of tea manufacture in terms of space and
time taken. This first stage of tea manufacture may
take 10 to 20 hours and its main purpose is to bring
down the internal moisture of the leaf to between
65 to 67% WB. It also initiates chemical reactions
in the leaf cell necessary for quality tea production.
This reduction in moisture makes
the leaf pliable and easier to cut in the next stage.
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Step 4:
Preparation (Leaf Maceration)
The processes of tea manufacture
produces three major types of made tea: green tea
that is unfermented, oolong that is semi-fermented
and black tea that is fully ffermented.
Almost all tea produced in Kenya
is by the CTC (crush, tear and curl) method. This
method produces black tea that has the advantage of
quicker brewing and which makes mores cups per Kg.
The process involves cutting and macerating the leaf
to produce a fine mash, or "dhool." Its
purpose is to expose the cell contents to atmospheric
oxygen for further development through the action
of enzymes. This is popularly called fermentation
although it’s strictly an oxidation process
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Step 5:
Fermentation
Fermentation or oxidization is the
most important stage in the manufacture of black tea,
and this process makes it uniquely different from
all other teas. Fermentation is carried out in custom-designed
fermentation rooms. Depending on the temperature,
maceration technique and the style of tea desired,
the fermentation time range from 45 minutes to 3 hours.
The characteristic coppery color and fermented tea
aroma judge the completion of fermenting. |
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Step 7:
Tasting
During tasting, samples of tea are
collected hourly from each grade and also the drier
mouth teas and infused for five minutes in different
cups.
The liquor is the poured to different bowls. The taster
then evaluates the tea for quality and manufacturing
faults by sucking and atomising the liquid into his
mouth and allowing it to linger there long enough
for the flavour and character to be appreciated. He
then spits it out or sometimes, swallows it.
The infused leaves and the dry leaves
are also inspected. The taster assesses the flavour,
smell, colour etc of the infused leaf and the uniformity
of size, fibre content and trueness of grade for the
dry leaves.
The main purpose of tasting is to
ensure continuous manufacture of high quality tea
by detecting any faults in processing and taking timely
remedial action.
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Step 8:
Auction
K.T.D.A. sells tea on behalf of
small-scale tea growers through the Mombasa Auction,
held every Monday except on public holidays, in which
it is held on the day after the public holiday. Mombasa
Auction has become a world re-nowned tea market centre
for East and Central Africa tea producing countries.
The Auction is conducted under the supervision of
the East Africa Tea Trade Association (EATTA).
The selling broker announces the
line of tea on sale, and invites bids in US Dollars
per kilogramme. The buyers announce their bids, which
advances by at least one US cent per kg. The tea is
knocked to the highest bidder, and the next lot is
offered for sale. |
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Step 9:
Shipping
From the efficient port of Mombasa,the
teas are shipped to various tea consuming countries
from where it is blended and packed into various brands.
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This is one of the most expensive
parts of tea manufacture in terms of space and time taken.
During the time the tea is in the withering trough, the
most obvious chan ge is the loss of water which. This makes
the leaves more pliable and easier to cut in the next stage.
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