ABOUT TEA
How Tea is Made
Most tea plants or bushes yield more than a thousand tea leaves every year, which may seem like a lot until you realize that it takes more than three thousand leaves to produce a kilo of fully processed tea. And those leaves are harvested either by hand or by mechanized techniques. If the leaves are gathered manually, workers procure the top two leaves and the bud from each branch of the plant. In the finest tea estates, the workers wear white gloves to insure that the natural oils in the roller skin does not come into contact with leaves, thus protecting the purity of each and very leaf. Due to the tremendous demand for tea, many harvesters rely on machinery to gather tea leaves, and while this may in the end reduce the quality of the tea, it certainly reduces expenses. Connoisseurs tend to seek out hand harvested tea leaves
)
White and green tea leaves undergo very little processing and no oxidation, or fermentation. White tea is harvested before the leaves are all the way open, when the buds are still covered with the fine white fur that gives the tea its name. White tea has a light, almost sweet flavour, while tea is famously grassy. Oolong tea is only partially oxidized, for two to three hours, whereas black tea is oxidized for up to four hours. The result is the bold and hearty flavour that makes black tea by far the most popular tea in the world.
In processing all teas, the step that halts fermentation is called firing. Leaves are placed in large hot pans to lose nearly all of their original moisture. The length of time required to dry the leaves varies according to the freshness of the leaves and the length of time the leaves are fermented. Obviously, this important step must be done carefully, or the tea leaves will lose its flavour and may even spoil and crumble. Under modern circumstances, firing is done in a large special dryer that can maintain a constant temperature of 120 degrees. Once leaves are heated and dried, the process of fermentation stops.
After tea is processed, the leaves are sorted by size so that they’ll brew evenly. The highest quality and the most expensive tea usually come from whole leaves. The grading of tea leaves for consumers is a fairly confusing process, in part because there are different grading procedures for green and black teas, and the procedures vary by country, Grades refract not to the tea’s flavour, but rather to the size of the leaves and how the leaves are processed. Whole tea leaves are awarded the highest grades because they are more difficult to produce. Because tea is primarily processed in cultures where nothing is wasted, dust (also called fanning’s) from the leaves tends to end up in commercial tea bags. The dust makes for a murky, muddled cup of brewed tea that sings mainly one overly loud note. Excellent quality whole leaf teas produce a refined brew with a harmonious symphony of flavours.
With a history of over 65 years, Graceland Tea Factory has been one of the pioneers in the low grown tea industry in Sri Lanka. In a industry where new comers pop up regularly, Graceland has kept to their promise of high quality teas from the year 1956 and to date that promise is fulfilled to customers all over the world.
Copyright © 2025 graceland. All rights Reserved. Design & Developed by Bfly Digital.