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The Five Stages of Black Tea Production
Today’s interesting Tea Fact
Producing black tea requires five successive operations. After the tea leaves are withered, a drying process that reduces their moisture content by half, enabling them to be rolled without breaking.
This rolling or macerating, causes essential oils to be released but still retained within the leaf.
The leaves are then carefully hand sorted according to size and form (whole or broken leaf).
Next comes fermentation, which transforms the leaves from being ‘green’ through an Oolong stage (semi-fermented) to fully fermented ‘black’ tea. This fermentation process is tightly controlled, the leaves are thinly spread out and exposed to warm, (75 to 85 degrees Fahrenheit) extremely humid air for several hours. The leaves in effect start to compost or bio-degrade, the secret is knowing exactly when to holt this fermentation and move onto the final stage, firing or drying.
This stops fermentation and removes virtually all moisture allowing the leaves to be stored safely for a considerable time,
Samuel Pepys and Dr. Samuel Johnson
According to Antony Burgess;
Samuel Pepys, the diarist of the reign of Charles II, who came to the British throne in1660, writes of having drunk “tee (a China drinke) of which I had never drank before,” He does not say whether he liked it or not. There was at first some dissension as to its preparation. It could be either too strong or too weak? Should it be sweetened or not? In the eighteenth century the greatest tea drinker of all time established the way the British were to drink it. This was Dr. Samuel Johnson, the lexicographer who created his huge English Dictionary single-handed, no doubt under the stimulation of tea. His teapot held two litres. He took it strong, the bite of the tannin being allayed with a little milk, adding sugar in little lumps. At the house of a distinguished lady, he kept passing his cup for more and more, until he had ingested thirty-two cups. The lady said: “Dr. Johnson, you drink too much tea.” Johnson said “Madam, you are insolent.”
Assam Tea Interesting Facts
The upper Assam valley, in north-eastern India, is the world’s largest tea producing region.
Its two thousand gardens account for almost a third of India’s annual harvest of 507 million kilograms, (compared to Darjeeling’s more modest 9.8 million kilograms) yet it was not until the early twentieth century that the jungle along the banks of the Brahmaputra River were finally cleared.
Wild tea plants sixty feet high were discovered in 1823, in what is one of the wettest and least hospitable regions of the world.
A typical Assam picker will pluck nearly fifty thousand stems per day, ‘fine plucking’ will consist of only the terminal bud and the first two leaves, a ‘coarse plucking’ includes the bud plus three, four or five leaves. The pickers are paid according to the weight as well as the quality of the plucking.
A Golden Pagoda from Yunnan
Oh so quick…
Just to say that both Elderflower and Stinging Nettle Teas are back in stock after a small hiatus. The Japanese Sencha Sakura and an unordered black Wild Cherry (rather than the green Wild Cherry) are back on the lists and in quantity. But most excitingly this week is a rather rare black Yunnan tea called GOLDEN PAGODA ORGANIC HAND TIED. It is quite sublime, a smooth, delicate and enjoyable taste and flavour as well as the joy of watching leaves that have been tied together slowly unfold into an anemone shape. We have filmed this riveting experience (obviously nothing better to do!) and may with any luck succeed with uploading it to YouTube. I will keep you informed.
A Golden Pagoda will only set you back a quid, go for it!
Enjoy your Tea, G
London Coffee Festival 1 of 2
We played around on an exhibition that was selling a brilliant device called an AeroPress, invented in 2005, which uses air pressure to improve extraction of flavour. We tried two differently prepared cups, prepared in front of us using the same water, identical Ethiopian beans, same grind and roast but one made with the AeroPress and one made with the popular mini Pour-Through method. Astonishingly the AeroPress was vastly superior in its flavour and surprisingly in its depth of body. Watch World Champion Barista Gwilym Davies showcase it here.
I was feeling ‘lunchy ‘ by then so phoned Helen to find out where she was. “It sounds like you’re speaking with your mouth full!” I said. Turns out she’d found the chocolate hall and was making short work of the samples…
It wasn’t my idea of lunch so we dragged her out of there and made our way to the Curry Mile for a cracking lunch courtesy of Bengal Village