Tea Processing - 101

I met Sanjee at the Makaibari tea factory at around 7:45 am on Wednesday. He was great. He let me tag along all morning and ask a ton of questions. He first had to plan the day for the factory and sometimes I had to wait around a bit for things to happen.

It all depends how the withering process went from the night before. If the tea plants were wet due to rain, the process could take longer than if it was dry. Typically it can take 14-20 hours for the withering process to be completed. The tea sits in 30-40 ft long by 3-4 ft wide troughs. There is mesh or wire below so that air is always circulating. Air can also be blown from below. There are fans in the part of the building where the withering is taking place. The workers are tossing and turning the leaves as well. After plucking, this is the first step in processing tea. From here, when ready, the tea is taken to the rolling machines.

I must mention the beautiful floral aroma you smell throughout the factory. The smell is sweet and so pervasive throughout. I hope I never forget that smell.

The rolling process takes about half an hour. Rolling is further reducing the moisture in the leaves and releasing juices. For the first flush Darjeeling tea, the next step is drying. There are additional steps in the process for the second flush, oolongs, etc.

The tea is fed into the drying machine at the top. The machine is essentially a conveyor and the tea slowly cycles down to the bottom. This process takes about 30 minutes as well. The drying machine is hot to the touch, but also blows air. The tea drys further by air overnight before the tea sorting takes place.

There are nine women sorting the tea leaves. When you purchase Darjeeling tea you see packages labeled "BOP" or sometimes "FTGFOP1". These woman know the exact difference between the broken tea leaves or the tips. I should also mention that each tea lot is labeled and tracked throughout the entire process. After the tea is sorted, it is packed and shipped.

Sanjee had six teas cupped for me so that I could taste the teas side by side. The dry leaves were in front of each cup and the wet leaves were behind so you could see and smell what the tea leaves are like. You could also see the different colored liquors from all the teas.

He explained that you take some tea with the spoon. You slurp it in your mouth and roll it over your tongue. You want to fill your entire mouth. We tasted the 2011 first flush. The rest were 2010 -- the second flush, oolong, green tea, white tea, and imperial silver tips. Of course I loved the first flush which I had been drinking on and off all week. The second flush was definitely full bodied. I didn't know Makaibari made oolong, green, and white teas. These don't frequently make their way to the US. The imperial silver tips was out of this world. It had so much going on in that one slurp, that I wanted to drink the entire cup. Even smelling the wet leaves, you knew your taste buds were in for a big surprise!

The factory tour and tastings are available to anyone that is interested. Makaibari wants people to know what goes into a cup before purchasing their products. Once you know the entire story, chances are you will continue to buy their teas.

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