THE TEA WE DRINK

Evening Star, Issue 21716, 10 May 1934, Page 12

THE TEA WE DRINK

So many people are accustomed to buying a packet of tea and putting the requisite number of spoonfuls into a pot that few ever, realise the origin of their dry, black, aromatic tea. A day spent in a tea garden during the plucking process would surprise most people. They would first see the perfectly flat-topped bushes ready for plucking. From these bushes numerous shoots have pushed their way. It is these shoots, a bud, two and sometimes three leaves that are picked by a coolie, who, using both hands, and placing the leaves in a basket slung on his shoulders, picks at an astounding rate. This basket is brought to the weighing shed twice a day usually. As soon as the basket is weighed the tea is emptied on to the general pile and from there taken to large open structures, each consisting of a roof with a number of flat-topped platforms under them. Over each platform is spread hessian or sack cloth, and on this the leaf is spread thinly to wither. It is a difficult matter to determine when the leaf is sufficiently withered, and it is not until this is decided that the manufacture really begins. The leaf is next put into a machine and squashed and rolled for about twenty minutes. It is then put through a wire, sieve to separate the fine from the coarse leaf. After this these two grades are carried to a long, dark room with a cement or tiled floor, where it is allowed to ferment at a fairly low temperature; a process which is complete in a few hours, the result being that the bright green has changed to a brown. The leaf is again rolled for a few minutes and then put into a firing machine. The leaf is put on a chain of -trays which pass through a long hot chamber, whence it emerges looking somewhat like the tea we buy. The tea is fired two or three times until it is thoroughly dry or cooked. Having been fired, the tea is sorted. The “cooked” tea is put through a breaker and reduced to workable size, after which it passes through a number of rotary sieves of different mesh which sort the fine from the coarse. In the factory these varieties are packed in special cases and shipped to the agents. Thus they come finally into the hands of the blenders, who are responsible for the tea in the different marks and names familiarised by the packets or cases of tea one buys.