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Botanical names are always complex. The full name of the tea plant is Camellia sinensis. The term Sinensis is Latin for Chinese, and the name was given because the first tea plant was discovered in China.
The initial stages of tea cultivation are shrouded by the mists and antiquity and entwined with myth and legend. A medical book published in the year 2737 BC had the following to say. “Tea grows in winter in the valleys by the streams and on the hills of Ichow, and does not perish in severe winter. It is gathered on the third day of the third month and then dried. It quenches the thirst, it lessens the desire for sleep, and it gladdens and cheers the heart.” So tea from the earliest appearance imbued with the aura of the Gods and celebrated as a combination medicine and elixir.
After many centuries the properties of tea has taken many dimensions. Tea today is regarded the king and the commoner of all drinks. There is more adventure and more ritual surrounding the gathering of tea and it’s drinking than there is for any other drink. Tea started its career in the West as a favourite aristocrat. It was rare and expensive, an extravagant delicacy. Its costliness is evident from the rich silver caddies that now fetch very high prices at auctions. These were articles that every lady craved to possess. To serve tea was to distribute generosity. In fact tea became such a snob, so popular that it necessitated the invention of a whole new meal, so called “Afternoon Tea.” Ladies used to visit each other to gossip over a cup of tea. This prompted Henry Fielding to sum up these times “Love and scandal are the best sweeteners of tea.”
In its progress from fashionable aristocrat to every day commoner, tea has still not lost its intricacies of flavour, its refinement and its fascinations. Sri Lankan wide range of teas, the golden brews of the Bogo/Maskeliya teas, the delicate bouquet of the Nuwara Eliya teas and the pungent Uva teas when in season, all these can be compared to vintage wines The tea tasters on the other hand are as fastidious as wine tasters capable of detecting almost the hour of the morning the tea leaves were plucked.
Just as some people choose wines to suit the food they eat, there are teas to go well with every mood and occasion. The all-embracing aspect of tea is its central place it occupies in the cultures of the countries that adopt it. Whether at a Japanese tea ceremony, in a Bedouin tent, or in an urban café partaking in a cup of tea is an essential and characteristic part is society’s life. Many others drink intoxicants, but there is little impact on manners, on hospitality, on the ways in which people come together and drink together.
Many renewed tea drinkers have expressed the view that the proper enjoyment of tea can only be developed in an atmosphere of leisure, friendship and sociability. It helps to win friends, and the beverage symbolises communication, shared moments, sympathy and harmony.
In modern Chinese homes tea is always served to guests as a sign of friendship and hospitality, and in restaurants a pot of tea is always the first and the last thing to be brought to the table.
General character of the tea plantTea plant enjoys a very vigorous growth, and is capable of flourishing under extreme weather conditions. It is known to have grown as far North as the province of Georgia in Russia where the winters are long and severe and snowfall is a daily occurrence. In the Southern Hemisphere tea is grown in Natal in South Africa where the conditions are not so ideal for active growth. Conditions in Ceylon fall in between and the North East and the South West monsoon mostly influence the growth of the tea bush.
Extreme weather conditions are not at all conducive for growth. The general conditions that prevail in the country are as follows.
It now becomes clear that the topography and the monsoons play an important part in the propagation of tea in the country. The average mean temperature ranges from 79° F to 82° F in the low country and 58° F to 75° F in the hill country.
During the heavy cropping months of March, April and May, general quality levels drop, but picks up rapidly thereafter when the South West monsoon blows dry. There is also less quality during the wet period from November to January under the influence of the North East monsoon. Tea prefers a cool humid climate. It is observed that a pleasant climate for man is not a good climate for tea. Cool conditions at higher altitudes could retard growth, but could produce a high quality product.
It is established that in Ceylon, an acre of tea in full production will draw from the soil under normal weather conditions, about ten tons of water per day. This calls for a rainfall of about 0.1 inches per day. The entire husbandry of any land depends on its topsoil. It must at all times be well preserved from the wasting influence of the sun, rain and wind.
Tea is a shade loving jungle plant, and under normal conditions it grows best under a fair canopy of forest trees. They should not however be permitted to compete with tea for plant food. For steady growth, it requires an average rainfall of at least 100 inches. Its root system is mostly in the top three feet of soil. Under very dry conditions the plant could wilt and leaf production can reduce drastically. It is best grown in acid soils. The most common types are the Chinese, Assam and Indo-China, but a vast variety exist between them.
Tea is a commercial commodity and is a product of the Camellia Sinensis. It is a flowering evergreen shrub, and grows freely in many tropical and sub-tropical regions in the world. Today, it forms a major industry in Ceylon, India, Bangladesh, Kenya and Indonesia. It is also grown extensively in many parts of East Africa.
Originally, the selected seeds were directly placed in the holes, but later, nurseries in selected places were set up for the purpose and later transplanted in the holes. This gave an opportunity for the discarding of unhealthy plants. This method of propagation had been in vogue for a long period of time, but within recent years, methods of improving yields and type by "selection" have engaged attention.
Today tea is propagated in a different manner, known as "vegetative propagation." What this means is that tea is grown from leaf cuttings taken from selected mother bushes of high yielding and disease resistant strain. By this method uniformity of the desired characteristics of tea could be achieved and maintained.
This practice had been in vogue in Japan way back in the 1880's. This custom was generally followed in India in the late 1930's, but it took a longer time for it to be observed in Ceylon. All cuttings from one bush whether of the first or subsequent generations form what is called a clone. All members of one clone are of the same genetic composition and look the same, which mean that their quality and the cropping potential are the same as the mother bush from which they originally descended.
Mother plants from which cuttings have to be taken are specially treated. Today, science has advanced to such an extent that it is now possible to produce a "super tea plant" that could grow with vigour, having the correct form and capable of producing a large harvest of high quality tea.
Another factor that has to be considered when selecting mother plants is its longevity. In a mixed stand, many tea bushes die each year. By the fiftieth year, about half of the original plants would have died which calls for replacements. Many reasons could be attributed to such occurrences, but some varieties could have a short natural span.
Tea was originally propagated with seeds, with the result; a vast variety of different types of bushes can be seen on old tea plantation. It has been proved beyond any reasonable doubt that tea plants generated from seeds do not produce progeny true to type bearing identical characteristics of the parent seed bearer.
In the case of tea plants raised through clonal propagation, all the attributes of the mother tree are produced genetically. It is for this reason that raising the offspring from seeds have been dispensed with and research has proved that plants grown through vegetative propagation are best, provided sufficient care has been taken in the selection of the mother bushes. It should have the potency to produce flush freely and have a natural resistance against disease. It should have the capacity to withstand drought and the ability to run a long cycle.
Before cuttings are taken from selected mother bushes, nurseries to accommodate them should be prepared well in advance. In selecting the location, care should be taken to ensure that there is sufficient supply of water within easy distance. Acidic soils rich in humus are the best, but water logged areas should be avoided. The preparation of nursery beds is an all important factor and should be carried out in a very prudent manner.
The most suitable time for planting the cuttings is at the commencement of the monsoon. The soft and hard stems and those with damaged leaves should be discarded. The selection of the cuttings to be planted in the nurseries should be carried out carefully, as the object of vegetative propagation could be defeated if they do not root well in the nurseries.
Adequate shade should be provided with ferns, with regular light sprinkling of water. The nurseries should be regularly weeded and fertilised. After about a year in the nursery, they are ready for planting in the fields, and this task is usually undertaken during the commencement of the rainy season.
A tea bush under forcing climates of the plains, could be brought into production within two and half to three years and fully developed a few years later. Growth however could be retarded in the hills where the seasonal changes are more marked, and the period of growth in differing altitudes and climates could vary considerably, depending on the climatic conditions.
For commercial purposes the tea tree is grown as a bush, but if left to grow wild it could extend to a height of thirty feet and above. Tea, which is grown from sea level to over seven thousand feet is considered a hardy evergreen plant. Its yields are high at tropical and sub-tropical temperatures, but the finest teas are secured from the slower, and consequently, smaller yielding growths on the hills.
To maintain a continuous flush, the growth of the plant is artificially retarded by regular cutbacks. This helps to maintain the bush at a height of about three feet, for convenience of plucking. Pruning promotes growth during the period of recovery, while the plant replaces lost foliage. It is from the two leaves and the unopened leaf that tea is produced. Pruning promotes the growth of additional plucking points, which in turn increases its yield.
Tea leaves are generally harvested by women but men are used when the flush is on. Under normal conditions a person could collect about 25 kilos of tea a day that could produce about 11 kilos of made tea. This amount could however reduce drastically during the dry season. A kilo of made tea may require about 6,000 shoots of picked leaves, and this goes to prove that labour costs make up a large proportion of the cost of tea. It is for this reason that tea cultivation has remained concentrated in the third world countries.
Attempts to mechanise this operation has been made in the state of Georgia in Russia with a certain degree of success. Japanese has devised cunning shears with pouches attached to the blades enabling the user to collect about 275 kilos of tea a day. It has also been tried in other countries including Ceylon. Unfortunately, it is generally agreed that machines cannot discriminate sufficiently to select the two leaves and the bud, which is considered the ideal for the manufacture of quality teas. Further, the topography of the tea lands in our country does not permit the free use of mechanical harvesters.
Tea is always plucked in the same manner by removing the two leaves and the bud. In Ceylon the tea flushes all the year round. Depending on the monsoons, certain areas flush well during certain periods of time. On average the first four months of the year are considered the lean period for crop. The four months that follow are regarded the highest cropping months of the year. September is again a low cropping month, but a mini rush originates from October and lasts until December. As a rule, the bulk of the crop is harvested during the first six months. Due to the vast changes in the weather patterns in recent times, these old established patterns of cropping are continuously changing.
Tea replaced coffee that was ravaged by the coffee rust disease. The first commercial planting of tea took place in the island in 1867. This was undertaken on an abandoned coffee estate in the Kandy district. The tea industry in the country expanded before long, to become one of the leading exporters to the world.
Today, there are 188,971 hectares under tea cultivation, which represent about 3.8% of the land area of Ceylon. This area is broadly subdivided into four major climatic zones, where the agro-ecology exerts a profound influence on the chemistry on the tea plants, and on the tea.
“It all started with a few tea seeds germinated at Loolecondera”
It is here that we introduce the person who, more than any other showed Ceylon the way out of the coffee disaster by founding an even greater plantation industry.
James Taylor was born in 1835 at Monboddo, Kincardineshire, Scotland. He was one of a family of six children, who was described by his schoolmaster as "a quiet, steady going lad," His mother died when he was nine years old. His father married again, but James did not take kindly to his stepmother. It must have been this setback that prompted him to seek his fortunes in a strange land at the tender age of sixteen.
At that time the owners of coffee plantations were looking for "sons of soil" in Scotland for their properties in Ceylon. In 1851, young James signed the form of engagement to G. & L.A. Hadden the London agents for Loolecondera estate. The contract was for three years as assistant manager, for a salary of pounds sterling 100 a year, from which he had to pay his fare to Ceylon. On October 22nd he set sail to Ceylon, never to return home again. At twenty years he was made the manager of Loolecondera responsible in all for about 1,100 acres.
The early proprietors of Loolecondera Plantation, Hewaheta were G.D.B Harrison and W, M. Leake. This property was subsequently sold to Anglo-Ceylon and General Estates Company Limited. Its produce in the early 1880's, came under the careful management of James Taylor. His initial success at Loolecondera was freely spoken about in planting circles and the teas he produced acquired a high reputation among Ceylon teas in London.
The first batch of tea manufactured on Loolecondera was marketed in Kandy. A more scientific evaluation of Leake's tea, along with other Ceylon Company's teas was made in 1871. The result was most encouraging, and the London Brokers did not hesitate to place a valuation of 3 shillings 6 pence. This prompted the owners to extend further cultivation of tea with special attention being paid to its manufacture. Taylor by then had mastered the art of tea cultivation, but was not proficient in the making of good tea.
A brief visit to India helped him to learn the art of tea manufacture. He also had free access to the expert knowledge of Jenkins, considered a knowledgeable tea planter from Assam, who was given charge of the Company's operations in Ceylon. Jenkins provided all assistance to Taylor, and above all, inspired confidence in him. Before long, Taylor was able to produce teas equal in all aspects to Assam teas.
The most interesting factor regarding the "original tea plot" planted in 1867, was that the first dose of fertiliser in the form of caster cake was only administered in 1885, but production figures indicated that the bushes were growing vigorously and the yields had been maintained at around 475 pounds of made tea per acre.
He died on the estate that he loved. His tombstone at Mahaiyawa cemetery, Kandy, carries the following inscription:
"In pious memory of James Taylor, Loolecondera estate Ceylon, the pioneer of the tea and cinchona enterprises, who died on May 2nd 1892, at the age of 57."
Although James Taylor is remembered as the "father" of Ceylon tea, we must not forget his many fellow planters. They fought back from the coffee disaster and brought a new industry in its place. To them, it was all a part of their rugged outdoor life. For their recreation they hunted the leopard, the bear, wild pig, and other animals that roamed the jungles surrounding their plantations.
A well-found self-contained tea estate forming an economical unit in Ceylon must have a resident manager, a permanent resident labour force, and a fully equipped factory with ancillary plant and buildings. It should have a good cover of tea interspersed with shade trees, stone terraces to prevent soil erosion and windbreakers to shield the tea fields from monsoon winds.
A good system of roads, to provide easy access to all parts of the estate is essential for the transmission of green leaf to the factory. Housing for the resident labour force, with spare land for their own allotments, pasture for their goats and cattle must also be provided. Dispensary with qualified attendants within the estate, for the treatment of their ailments is desirable and schools for the education of their children are a necessity.
Tea estates have been established in plains and valleys, on steep hillsides, and on wide high plateau. Within limits, the tea plant is known to grow on soils of any texture, but jungle land is considered best of all. Tea is considered a wild plant, and the jungle provides a more natural habitat that is usually rich in the plant food which tea requires. On a broad generalisation, it may be said that the best tea is usually found on the more acid soils. Tea grows poorly on neutral or alkaline soils. Climate however plays an important part in the production of quality teas.
An efficient staff and a good and loyal labour force no doubt are a real asset to an estate. On the superintendent and his assistants' rests the responsibility of management. We have no doubt acquired this art of management from the Europeans that pioneered this project in the country.
Social relationship between the management and the labour class has changed considerably over the years. The subordinate staff that usually consists of clerks, storekeepers, tea-makers, engine room attendants, dispensers etc. cannot always be recruited locally. Today, an estate will have a mixture of different nationalities serving the same master. All these factors have to be taken into account when dealing with the labour force.
The initial clearing of land, and prior planting operations, form a work of major importance upon which the success of subsequent operations and the eventual prosperity of the property are largely dependent. Clearing of jungle land for tea is a major undertaking. The undergrowth is first cleared, followed by the cutting down of trees and other heavy growths, after which the entire area is burnt. The heavy timber is thereafter removed, but the ash and other decaying matter left to provide the tea plants the necessary nutrients.
The cleared land is then surveyed for drainage, roads, building sites, and above all a convenient location for the factory. It is only after all these operations have been completed that the planting operations start. The layout of the estate for planting purposes is largely determined by the lie of the land. The area to be planted is then marked out for long lines of tea bushes
The arrangement of tea bushes in the field had always been a hotly debated issue ever since tea became a plantation industry in the mid 19th century. Tea plants used to be planted either in squares, rectangles, or in triangular fashion, so spaced as to allow for a full cover of tea when the bushes are mature. The more modern method adopted on slopes and hillsides is "contour planting "where the lines of tea bushes follow the contours of the land. This system allows for a more economical distribution of bushes, and is widely used in the country today. According to this method about 7,000 to 12,000 plants could be planted in a hectare of land.
If a tea plant is permitted to grow freely, it could produce flowers and fruits, but very few shoots to manufacture tea. The young tea plant is frequently cut back to a few inches from the ground to encourage lateral growth, and thereafter it is pruned at intervals. Pruning is done to prevent it from becoming a tree. Regular pruning turns the plant into a flat toped bush, of a size and shape usually three to four feet in height, suitable for gathering the leaf. A flat table facilitates the gathering the leaf manually, or could be trained to accede to mechanical harvesting. A well spread out frame provides ground cover and prevents unnecessary weed growth. Regular pruning helps to develop a sturdy framework capable of supporting a profuse growth in the future years. A well-trained tea bush will assist in obtaining the highest possible crop in the shortest possible time.
During the early stages, pruning was done mostly to remove dead wood. The scientific aspect of pruning has undergone radical changes over the years before the modern systems were adopted. Incorrect trimming down of tea bushes could lead to heavy deaths. A close study of all phases of pruning has been done today, and all stages standardised.
Under normal circumstances, the tea bush becomes unproductive of flush, and pruning is undertaken at regular intervals to remove extra foliage and over-matured wood, to develop a sturdy framework that can sustain luxuriant vegetative growth, and maintain it as a constant leaf producer. As the age of pruning increases, shoots become smaller, with the result increasing number of banjhi shoots appear on the surface and the flush decreases.
If the cutting back of the operations is delayed, the plucking table continues to rise making it difficult for tea pluckers to gather the flush.
The pruning cycle may not conform to a set pattern at different elevations. Growth is more vigorous at lower elevations; with the result pruning rounds is shorter and often undertaken every fourth year. Growth is slow at higher elevations, and this period could be extended further in the up-country areas.
Pruning is carried out wherever tea is grown, although the system may differ from district to district. It is a skilful operation, and carried out with a sharp and specially shaped knife. It is an operation that calls for skill and care. It has to be carried out in a manner so as not to cause damage to the bush, as careless handling could make them susceptible to pests and diseases. The frequency and intensity of pruning could differ at different elevations. There is however, no set rule as to the periods of pruning, but it is an accepted fact that at higher elevation the intervals are longer than in the low country.
The nurturing of the tea bush, and the cultivation of the soil on which it grows, is an integral part of tea propagation. In this regard, conservation of the soil, maintaining a good ground cover, supplementing any deficiency of plant food, providing humus and fostering the health and the vigour of the bush, are just a few of the guide lines for the planter to follow.
Tea is usually grown on steep slopes, where the heavy rainfall is experienced, where the average varies from hundred inches in some districts to over two hundred and fifty in others. These factors have jointly contributed to one of the greatest problems a planter is faced today.
Soil conservation has always been a problem in the country, and it is been tackled in a different manner today, as against the methods adopted by the early pioneers. The practice of clean weeding is fast giving way to selective weeding. The more innocuous sorts are left behind to bind the soil, and attention is now focused on the question of a proper tea cover that could eliminate weed growth.
Much topsoil has been lost over the years, and this problem has reached critical proportions today. Where clean weeding has to be resorted to, proper drains, silt-pits, and terraces have been constructed to prevent soil erosion. Today, much attention is paid to planting shade trees and nitrogen fixing shrubs in the tea to assist towards the conservation of the soil.
Regular application of fertiliser, often chemical, as against organic, is followed to maintain the tea bush in a viable condition. The three most important ingredients required for the successful cultivation of tea are, nitrogen, potash, and phosphoric acid. The ingredients could be adjusted according to the deficiencies or otherwise of this plant food in the soil.
Nitrogenous trees and plants also fulfil the equally important function of providing shade, binding the soil, and providing a rich humus. In recent years, attention is paid to "composting" as a means of making the maximum use of all available green and bulk manure.
The choice of good tea land, the opening of an estate, the ensuring growth, and care and cultivation of the bushes, all lead up to one culminating purpose. It is the continuous harvesting of the leaf from the mature tea bushes that every planter looks forward to.
It is considered a skilled and a fascinating operation, and referred to as "plucking." Tea is commercially manufactured from the "flush" or the leaf-growth on the side branches and the stems of the bush. Plucking the "two leaves and the bud" is the common description given to this operation. The bud is small and unopened, and the two leaves are tender and succulent.
At any altitude, the selection of leaf and the style of plucking determine the quality of the tea that could be manufactured in the factory. Gathering just two leaves and the bud reflect normal plucking, anything less would constitute "fine” plucking, and the inclusion of extra leaf or leaves constitute "coarse" plucking. At lower elevations the tea bushes throw out tender leaves faster than at higher elevations, and the plucking intervals are determined accordingly. In countries near the equator, such as Ceylon, plucking is carried out all the year round. In the colder regions tea harvesting is seasonal.
Tea plucking is a highly skilled operation, and is traditionally carried out by women. They have acquired this skill of selecting the leaves to be plucked, over the years. Their nimble fingers are trained to break the tender leaves and transfer them in handfuls into the baskets they carry on the backs. All this is done at an amazing speed. Mechanical plucking has been tried before, but without much success.
At intervals, the baskets are taken to the roadside, and the leaves carefully picked to eliminate stalk and other extraneous matter before weighing. The leaf is then transported to the factory in the quickest possible time, in specially built motor lorries. Aerial ropeways could still be seen, in certain estates, performing this task. It is with this carefully plucked tea leaves that manufacture commences.
Tea considered the most popular beverage next to water, is made from two leaves and the bud of the plant "Camellia Sinensis". Even today, it has remained a symbol of mystery, scientific challenge and good taste. There are many ways, in which the leaf may be prepared, but most teas are designated green or black, the former unfermented, and the latter fermented.
The process of tea manufacture has evolved through ages and times, and distinguishing stages can be recognised. The first was the hand process used in China. The Dutch took teas of this vintage to Europe in 1610. The second phase is attributed to the Assam planters, who in 1839 used the Assam variety of tea, and simplified the Chinese method of hand preparation. The third phase started with the introduction of machinery in the early 1880's. Teas have now come to be manufactured rather than prepared. The use of the tobacco cutter, the crushing, tearing, and curling (CTC) machine in tea manufacture, saw the dawn of the fourth phase. The fifth is now being pursued with both hot and cold water soluble instant tea.
In Ceylon, the cultivation and manufacture of tea, in a way is unique. At a time when dietetics has almost become a science, when purity and cleanliness in food and beverages were so strongly insisted on -- Ceylon -- from the very inception of tea manufacture, is well known to have paid the greatest attention to ensure that the doubtful nature of some of the early Chinese blends which were consumed as tea, were completely eliminated.
This is the most important process of tea manufacture. A careless wither or an uneven one will not give good tea even from the best type of leaf.
The leaf arriving at the factory is quickly weighed and spread evenly in tats or troughs. This is a process where the excess moisture in the leaf is released to make it pliable for the next process of rolling. Rollers compress the leaf and help to extract the sap from the leaves and initiates fermentation. A good wither will prevent the leaf from breaking up, but will impart a twist.
Liquors from fresh leaf are bitter, but in well-withered leaf, sweetness develops. Process of withering should not be hastened, and if the correct levels are reached, the leaf when squeezed into a ball, it will not open out. Under wet conditions, the loss in weight of withered leaf should be around 35% to 40%. Under dry conditions, the loss could be around 45%.
The time required before the leaf reaches this stage is dependent on temperature and humidity and could range from 18 to 24 hours in different seasons and districts. During the wet season or in humid areas, optimum conditions are reproduced artificially. Directing heated air through lofts by means of fans does this. Withering in this instance is a term of convenience rather than of exact application.
During this process of withering, the leaf is subjected to both physical and chemical changes. This is a process that has to be carefully watched, as uncontrolled withers could lead to the manufacture of poor quality teas.
After obtaining the correct degree of wither, the leaf is rolled, twisted, and at the same time, slowly broken up. The leaf cells are ruptured in the process, and their contents brought into contact with the air to start the chemical reactions necessary for the production of black tea. As soon as the cells are ruptured, the enzymes in the leaf come in contact with the oxygen of the air and oxidisation necessary for the substances responsible for flavour, colour, and aroma takes place.
Different rolling techniques are used to cater to the needs of the trade. Disintegration of the leaf is accompanied by heat development. This has to be checked, as excessive heat is detrimental to quality.
Rollers differ considerably in mechanical detail, but not in principal. It consists of a circular table with a hard surface on which brass or wooden battens are fitted. Above it is an open cylinder into which leaf is fed. As this cylinder rotates, the amount of pressure imparted to the leaf against the surface of the table could be adjusted.
To obtain a good appearance of the final product, rolling should be carried out without the application of pressure. If on the other hand, the aim is to be to obtain strong and coloury liquors, hard rolling should be carried out to extract the maximum sap from the leaf. During the quality season, when dry conditions set in accompanied with high winds, teas at higher elevations acquire an essential oil inherent in the leaf to produce flavour. Rolling has to be regulated so as to preserve the oil in the leaf from escaping. For the production of a large percentage of small leaf grades, hard rolling is essential.
The next step, roll breaking, though considered an unfortunate necessity, has two objectives. To remove twisted leaf off the rolled shoots that clogs and impedes circulation. It also facilitates further twisting action on the large leaf. It is also done to cool the bulk of leaf when the temperature rises during the process of rolling.
There is no standard form of roll breaking, and altering the mesh sizes, adjusting the speed of vibration, the amplitude of the vibration, and the slope of the tray, could attain the desired objectives.
The finer particles collected after roll breaking, are fermented to bring about the changes necessary to make a tea liquor palatable. This process can only take place when the cells of the tea leaf are properly ruptured. The liquor of under-fermented tea will taste raw and green, and that of an over-fermented tea will come out soft. The degree of colour, general level of quality and flavour could be varied by adjusting the period of fermentation. As this chemical process takes place, the colour of the leaf changes from a greenish to a bright coppery colour. The period of fermentation may vary from twenty minutes sometimes to five hours.
The fermenting room should be cool, airy and humid, and the leaf is usually spread on fermenting tables or on cement floors. The room temperature should be around 75* to 80* F. A long fermentation at lower temperatures tends to destroy flavour, and a shorter fermentation gives raw and bitter liquors. When flavour is evident, a shorter fermentation may be the best, but a study of local conditions will help to obtain the best.
Dryers are of many makes, but the essentials are that it contains a stove for heating air, a fan to draw it and direct it to the drying chamber. It contain a series of perforated metal trays so arranged to carry the leaf feed from the first tray to the last thereby imparting the maximum heat required to dry the tea completely. The machine can dry the tea within 20 to 25 minutes.
The temperature of the hot air as the tea may vary between 180* to 200* F. Higher temperatures and longer through time can kill quality. At the point of discharge, moisture contents would have reduced to around 3%. The tea will not keep if the moisture contents are above 4.5%.
The fermented leaf is dried to stop any further chemical reactions taking place. The keeping qualities of tea depend on the temperature at which the tea has been fired. The technology of tea drying depends on many factors, the most important being firing temperatures. The most important being the temperature at which firing takes place. The volume of air, the load of leaf in the dryer trays, the period of drying, and the inlet and exhaust temperatures too play an important part in the drying process.
As the last operation in this long process of manufacture, the fired tea is then graded. It is the final but one of the important processes in tea manufacture, which could make all the value for the final product. The separation of tea particles into different shapes and sizes, conforming to trade requirements, involves many operations. This process can get long and tedious, when large number of grades is made. This is particularly so in low grown areas, where the factory elevation does not exceed 2,000 feet above sea level. Grading up to twelve to fifteen grades is not uncommon in these factories.
It must be emphasised that the various grades of tea only denote a certain size and appearance of leaf; it has no reference to quality. Broken grades normally give darker liquor and a stronger tea. Leaf grades on the hand, are lighter coloured and less strong.
The graded teas are finally weighed and packed into tea chests. Such is the mode of careful, clean preparation that goes on in many hundreds of tea factories situated at all elevations from sea level to over 6,500 feet.
When an invoice is ready on the estate, which could comprise one grade or different grades, the superintendent draws from the bulk two sets of samples. One set is rushed to the managing agents and the other set to the selling brokers in Colombo for tasting and reporting. This specialised job firstly involves a close examination of the dry leaf to ascertain whether it conforms to the specifications laid down for the grade. Then the infusion is carefully examined to determine its acceptability, and lastly the liquor is tasted to gauge its merits from the point of view of manufacture and specific consumer demands.
These are termed "Muster Reports" and are a careful analysis of what goes on in an estate hundred of miles away. The tea taster in Colombo acts as a guide to the superintendent and the factory staff, and if a mistake in manufacture is spotted, it is brought to their notice before the general standards deteriorates further. All brokers have their own manufacturing advisers, and regular visits to the estates are undertaken by them to ensure that the right type of tea is made in keeping with market requirements.
Overseas tea buyers could get extremely fastidious, and their requirements could vary considerably from country to country. Leaf appearance of made tea is most important in its presentation and should be black, neat and even, well twisted, clean and stalk free. Infusions should be as far as possible bright. In the liquors there are wide variances. Teas could be light and thin, extending to thick, pungent and heavy teas, and others could be flavour seasonal teas. A close examination of these various properties by the experienced tea taster provides the estate staff the necessary guidelines regarding exact market requirements.
Meanwhile, the superintendent on the estate continues to push the teas on their way to the outlets. When sufficient teas are collected to form an invoice, they are bulked and packed and dispatched to Colombo if intended for disposal in the Main sale, or retained on the estate if meant for Ex-estate sale. In the case of Ex-estate sales, a three-kilo sample is drawn from three packed chests at random by a responsible person in the factory and dispatched to their selling brokers in Colombo, along with the invoice particulars. In the case of main Sale teas, their respective managing agents usually furnish cataloguing details to the brokers.
On average, about fifty sales are conducted during the year, and weekly offerings could vary from seven million kilos during the rush months. Quantities however could decline to around three million kilos during the lean months. Generally, main sale offerings are greater in comparison to Ex-estate sales. More than a million kilos of tea arrive in Colombo each day either for disposal through the Main sale or consigned to buyer’s stores those teas sold under Ex-estate terms.
Catalogues usually close each week, three weeks ahead of the actual sale date. Main sale catalogues normally close on a Monday, and Ex-estate catalogues two days after on Wednesday. It is at this stage that the broker becomes directly concerned with the journey of tea.
Today, brokers are called upon to serve about 150 tea buyers. It is a statutory requirement that all buyers at the tea sales are registered with the Tea Control Department, whilst some of them are also members of the Colombo Tea Traders Association. All these buyers are entitled to a regulated number of samples, while about fifty of the larger buyers are entitled to the full set, which mean, a sample from each lot offered for sale.
The number of lots offered each week could vary from about 9,000 to over 10,000 depending on the crop situation. It has become necessary for all the brokers to distribute over 90,000 samples of the different types of tea offered for sale each week.
These samples are made available to the trade together with the printed copy of the broker’s catalogue two weeks prior to the actual sale. Some buyers very often call for samples even earlier for onward transmission to their overseas buyers, and this often happens during the quality season, where the buyers taste the teas before placing bids with their shippers in Colombo.
For this purpose, the respective brokers box samples. In the case of main sale teas, a three-kilo sample is drawn from three chests chosen at random by the broker's representative. Boring a hole on the side of the chest does this. After the required amount of sampling material is taken, the hole is sealed with a metal bung. In the case of Ex-estate teas, the samples that are dispatched from the estates are separately boxed in the sampling room of the respective broker. These samples are distributed among the various buyers many of who provide their own set of tins. Others are provided with samples wrapped in special paper.
It is at this stage that the teas are tasted for valuations. The broker's taste and value their teas and a valuation is placed on each lot. These valuations provide a guide to the prices that could be expected for the buyers when the lot comes up for sale. The buyers also taste the full range of samples sent to them by the brokers and value them separately. Their ultimate interest is the quality of the end product and their final reckoning is "what is the tea worth to the company," and where can I find a home for the tea purchased. The ultimate price paid at the auction depends on many factors such as market trends, overseas demand, shipping opportunities, availability of credit, etc. Taking all these factors into account, the buyer fixes a price in keeping with his requirements and places a limit on each lot he is interested in purchasing.
The producer of tea has a number of alternative methods by which he may dispose of his tea. The method most commonly used is to offer his produce for sale through the public auctions. He is also permitted to offer individual invoices for Private Sales at a price mutually agreed by a panel of tasters. The government has now extended this facility further to enable a producer to sell 50% of his crop forward for a period of six months under a Forward Contract that too is negotiated at a fixed price by a panel of tasters.
Despite these various methods of disposal granted to the producer by the government, the majority of producers usually favour selling their crop locally in Colombo. Over 90% of the crop is sold each year through the medium of the public auctions. Producers were also permitted to consign their produce to the UK for sale through the London Auctions. This London Auction has now ceased to function.
The auctions in Colombo are organised by the Colombo Tea Traders Association in accordance with a set of laws formulated by the Sri Lanka Tea Board. They are usually held weekly throughout the year at the Chamber's office in Colombo. The auctions are open to all interested parties provided they are registered tea dealers. The majority of those operations in Colombo are members of the Colombo Tea Traders as well.
The larger weight of tea exported from Sri Lanka is shipped in its original form, for example, under the estate's own name, in the original chests, as packed on the estate. This type of consignment is generally made against orders received by exporters from their overseas associates who do their own blending generally with teas from other countries. Quite a large volume of business is also conducted in blended form. This operation is carried out in buyer's warehouses and shipped against orders received for a particular type or standard of tea. There is also a trend fast developing for value addition locally. In this case, the teas are not only blended but also packaged locally. These pre-packed teas could be shipped under the exporters own brand name, or under the mark of ownership of the overseas buyer.
A very large percentage of the teas sold in Colombo are generally bought by exporters against firm orders, or on instructions received from their overseas associates with whom they have had long years of relationship, with the result they know their exact requirements in serving those particular markets.
Trading in tea on the other hand, where teas of good value are purchased in the hope of selling them later on actual offers has diminished considerably over the years due to the high cost of finance.
The overseas buyers when placing orders in Colombo with their agents, not only take into account the quality of the teas available locally, but also the market conditions prevailing in other countries for similar quality. His conception is to obtain his requirements at the cheapest possible price, and before placing a firm order; he will make a thorough study of price levels prevailing in other auction centres. Prices paid in Colombo reflect international levels, and it is imperative that if we are to maintain optimum price levels locally, the product is of best possible quality, both in respect of quality and leaf appearance. Another specific factor that may stand in favour with a particular shipper is his ability to effect speedy shipments of their consignments.
The next step in the journey of tea is when the tea change's hands at the Colombo Auctions. Each broker enters the rostrum in turn and proceeds to sell his catalogue. Each catalogue may have 259 different teas for sale, which could mean about 750 to 850 lots comprising various types of tea. The broker will have his own valuation on each lot of tea he expects to sell. The buyers too have copies of the broker’s catalogue, and after tasting the teas they are interested in, they will note down under each lot their idea of price.
It is at the auction, that the buyers purchase their requirements competing against each other for the highest bid. The selling broker on the rostrum follows the order of the catalogue calling for bids on each lot. Buyers compete and on the best bid, provided the broker is satisfied that he is getting a fair price according to the sellers' instructions, the lot is knocked down. If the broker is not satisfied with the progress of the bids, he makes a quick decision to withdraw the particular lot from the sale. These withdrawn teas are offered to interested parties as out-lots after the sale, or re-catalogued for a subsequent sale.
The buyer to whom the lot is knocked down becomes the owner of the particular lot. Although it is a verbal contract to purchase the tea, it becomes an irrevocable bond between the buyer and the broker. The buyer is now under obligation to make his settlement of cost with the broker within one week of the auction date. Once this is done, the buyer gets in return a delivery order to obtain his purchases from the sellers' stores, if the purchase includes main sale teas. In the case of Ex-estate teas, the broker issues delivery instructions to the estate as to where the tea should be delivered. The teas that have so far been in the possession of the seller, now moves into the custody of the buyer.
The Colombo Tea Auction that is the largest selling point in the world, is the cross road of the journey of tea from the producer to the consumer. A verbal contract becomes an irrevocable bond at the fall of the hammer. Generally over 10,000 lots come under the hammer each week, and an experienced broker will aim at selling about five to six lots per minute.
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