1. Growing tea
The White buildings dotted amongst the lush green include not only
manufacturing plant, employing the latest dying and processing
machinery, but also housing for the estate workers. There is a
tradition of caring for the workforce, on which the success of the
estate depends. There are schools for the children, and hospitals or
clinics to provide medical care. With only powerful elephants trained
to help with clearing and construction, the men who founded this great
industry changed the face of the rugged landscape. Today instead of
their original rather haphazard rows of bushes, planting follows the
natural contours to help conserve the soil, and there are more trees
planted amongst the tea to minimize erosion and to help replenish the
soil with essential nitrogen.
2. Plucking Tea
Machinery has been tried for plucking tea, but it is unlikely for
the foreseeable future that anything will replace the human skills
of the mainly female workforce as they pass between the rows of
bushes, deftly gathering the two leaves and one unopened leaf bud
which must be selected to ensure the final product is of the required
quality.
An experienced tea plucker will gather up to 60 lbs of tea in a
day, tossing handfuls of shoots into the basket on her back. She will
be paid in part on the quality of leaves harvested.
3. Processing
It is important to the quality of the end product that the newly
plucked green leaves should begin the manufacturing process in the
freshest possible condition. In the factory leaves are placed in long
metal troughs and powerful electric fans force warm air through from
below. This method enables a large crop to be withered in about eight
hours. The leaves are then passed through rolling machines which break
up the cell structure and release the natural juices enzymes which
give the tea its characteristic flavour. Another result of the rolling
stage is that the leaves become twisted.
The sticky lumps of leaf from the rollers have to be broken up to
allow even fermentation. After 3 hours of fermentation the leaf turns
a coppery brown color through the absorption of oxygen. Finally
fermentation is stopped and the leaves are dried by a "firing" process
tea is packed in to chests, specially constructed of plywood with an
aluminum foil lining, which will keep the tea dry and free from
extraneous taints until it is required for packing or blending.
4. Tea Auctions
Over ninety per cent of Ceylon Tea is sold at the weekly auctions in
Colombo which is the largest tea auction centre in the world. It is
before the buying and selling at auction, and again when the final
product is to be blended for packeting, that the highly experienced
tea tasters come into their own.
5. Tea Exports
Tea exports from Sri Lanka are loaded at the port of Colombo
6. Tea - part of life
With the growth of scientific research over the centuries of tea's
popularity, many treatises have been written rhapsodizing over the
drink's restorative, even curative properties. While much of this has
subsequently been proved to be nonsense, Those early morning cups of
tea, mid-morning tea breaks, leisurely cups after meals, do all help
to offset life's tensions and help us through a busy day. And besides,
tea can help you keep fit and slim.
