MARCH 10, 2017

SRILANKAN BLACK-TEA
BLACK-MANUFACTURING PROCESS
LAVAN SRINIVASAN RABINDRAN
 BLACK-TEA MANUFACTURING PROCESS 1

Contents
Background of Tea Industry ...................................................................................................... 4

Black-Tea Manufacturing Process ............................................................................................. 7

References ................................................................................................................................ 12

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List of Tables
Table 1 Fermentation Humidity & Temperature ....................................................................... 9

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List of Figures
Figure 1 Camellia Sinensis ........................................................................................................ 4
Figure 2 Types of Tea ................................................................................................................ 4
Figure 3 Tea Growing Region ................................................................................................... 5
Figure 4 ...................................................................................................................................... 5
Figure 5 Black-Tea Manufacturing Process............................................................................... 7
Figure 6 Plucking ....................................................................................................................... 7
Figure 7 Withering ..................................................................................................................... 8
Figure 8 Rolling ......................................................................................................................... 8
Figure 9 Tea Fermentation ......................................................................................................... 9
Figure 10 Dryer ........................................................................................................................ 10
Figure 11 Sorting & Grading ................................................................................................... 10
Figure 12 Packaging & Storage ............................................................................................... 11

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Background of Tea Industry

Figure 1 Camellia Sinensis

The industry was introduced in Srilanka on 1867 by James Taylor, the British planter who
arrived in 1852. Tea is a natural beverage prepared from the leaves of an evergreen plant called
Camellia Sinensis. The second emperor of China ShenNung, discovers tea when tea leaves
blow into his cup of hot water. In 1824 the first tea plant was brought by British from China &
planted in the Royal Botanical Gardens in Peradeniya. The pioneer of Ceylon Tea industry
James Taylor planted the first 19 acres of tea in Loolecondra Estate near to the Kandy. Sri
Lanka tea manufactures most prefer to produce Black Tea, Green Tea, and White Tea, Oolong
Tea & Flavored Tea.

Figure 2 Types of Tea

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The prime regions are Nuwara Eliya, Dimbula, Uva, Uda Pussellawa, Kandy, Ruhuna and
Sabaragamuwa.

Figure 3 Tea Growing Region

Approximately 4% of country land area is covered tea plantation. The tea requires hot, moist
climate, temperature ranging from 10 -30 degrees centigrade, Average annual rainfall 200mm
& ground level between 600 – 200m above sea level.

Drinking tea cause to generate so many benefits to human. They are,

 Reduce the risk of heart diseases, cancers, blood pressures & etc.
 Give relax & energy to the human.
 Higher antioxidant capacity than fruits & vegetables.
 Assist in natural immune
 Response to infection
 Reduce eye fatigue

Figure 4

In present Sri Lanka, has become 2nd biggest tea manufacturer country in international market.
Sri Lanka is the world largest producer of conventional tea. The Tea Industry is one of most
importance part to the Srilankan economy. Tea industry continues to occupy a pivotal position

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in terms of foreign exchange earnings & employment. In the srilanka manufacturing tea
throughout the year and the total tea production is about 340 million kilograms per annum. Tea
export earnings reached $ 1.5 Billion in 2011 a historical high contributing 15% to the nation’s
foreign exchange. Generating 65% of export agriculture revenue, tea industry contributes
approximately 2% of island’s GDP. 2 Million employed directly & indirectly 10% of the
population of Sri Lanka depends on the Tea industry. Srilanka was the world’s leading exporter
of tea rather than producing with 23% of the total worlds export in 1995 but has since been
surpass by Kenya. Tea based soap, bath gel, shampoo and cosmetic products have recently
been added to this product range.

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Black-Tea Manufacturing Process

Plucking

Packaging &
Withering
Storage

Sorting &
Rolling
Grading

Drying Fermenting

Figure 5 Black-Tea Manufacturing Process

1. Plucking

Figure 6 Plucking

It is a process of harvesting and collecting tea leaves. Tea plucking is still conducted in
the traditional manner: the tea leaves are handpicked and gathered into wide baskets on
the backs of the tea pickers. The hand picking ensures that only the best leaves of the

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tea plant are collected and used for producing the tea. Before the tea plucking we have
to maintain foliage & tipping. There are mainly 3 types of plucking systems & they are
Scale leaf, fish leaf, & single leaf plucking.

2. Withering

Figure 7 Withering
After the plucking those plucked leaves are delivered to the factory for measure the
weight & send to the withering process. The primary aims of withering are, to reduce
the moisture content of the leaf and to soften it. The tea leaves are spread out on a large
tray of wire mesh, and hot air blowers are used to heat the leaf and drive the moisture
out. Withering duration is dependent on temperature and humidity and could range from
18 to 24 hours. At this point, the leaf has become limp and turned into a darker shade
of green.

3. Rolling

Figure 8 Rolling

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The withered leaves are loaded into rollers where they are twisted by a mechanic a l
action. The process is carefully monitored so that the style of the leaf is maintained and
overheating does not take place. In this process the green color of the leaf is replaced
by brown coppery colored texture as the process of rolling under pressure twist the leaf,
rupture the cells and release the natural juices, promoting oxidation and acceleration of
pigmentation. Premium quality green and white teas are generally manually selected
and hand rolled. There are two methods used by manufacturers Orthodox & CTC.

4. Fermentation

Figure 9 Tea Fermentation

Fermentation is the process during which the Polyphenols in the tea leaf are oxidized
in presence of the enzymes and subsequently condensed to form Colored compounds
contributing to the quality attributes of tea. Fermentation starts immediately after cell
rupture. In here pay more attention to humidity & Temperature.

Table 1 Fermentation Humidity & Temperature

Temperature  Optimum: 24'C – 29’C

 Factors affecting temperature:
 Leaf temperatures at the end of green leaf processing.
 Thickness of spread.
 Temperature of air in fermenting room.

Humidity  Optimum: 1’C – 1.5 ‘C Hygrometric Difference.

 Any larger H.D. requires humidification of the room.
 Normal method: mist chambers or spray units.

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5. Drying

Figure 10 Dryer

Drying For this process factory used fire wood tea dryers. Fermented leaf particles feed
in to this dryer. There should be 220o f keep in this dryer to prevent further chemica l
changes. Leaf particles circulate around 20 min. tea dryer produce black tea, this
completes the actual manufacture.

6. Sorting & Grading

Figure 11 Sorting & Grading

This is the very complex stage in tea production process. There are three types of tea
grading.

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 Grading according to sizes

In the tea factory, they use various kind of machine that fixes various sizes of
mashes for separate tea particles according to sizes. Middle turn Michesifte r,
Chotasifter are few machines use to sort tea according to sizes.

 Grading according to weight

They use suction winnower for tea grading according to weight.

 Grading according to color

For this process, they use very expensive machine call color sorter to separate tea
according to color.

7. Packaging & Storage

Figure 12 Packaging & Storage

The final step of tea manufacturing process is packing. They use paper sacks to pack
their different type of tea grades. For one dispatch factory, can include 10, 20 or 40
bags in each grade by same weight. All these packed tea transport to Colombo tea
auction through tea brokers. The finished product is shipped in bulk to mainly to
Europe, the middle-east, Australia, and North America. Only the best tea is exported.
Unfortunately, once it leaves Sri Lanka it is mixed with lower quality and cheaper
produce from the African countries and India.
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References
 Ceylon Tea Museum - Hantana, 2014. CEYLON TEA MUSEUM. [Online]
Available at: http://www.ceylonteamuseum.com/history. html
[Accessed 24 10 2016].

 Deen, N. S., 2017. Vedehetta Tea Factory Production Manager [Interview] (09 02 2017).

 Department of Census and Statistics , 2015. www.statistics.gov.lk. [Online]

Available at:
http://www.statistics.gov.lk/national_accounts/dcsna_r2/reports/press_note_2015q2_engli
sh.pdf
[Accessed 24 10 2016].

 Muthupillai, J., 2017. Vedehatte Tea Eastate Feild Officer [Interview] (08 02 2017).

 Sri Lanka Export Development Board, 2016. www.srilankabusiness.com. [Online]

Available at: http://www.srilankabusiness.com/pdf/industry_capability_reports/tea.pd f
[Accessed 24 10 2016].

LAVAN SRINIVASAN RABINDRAN