How is Black Tea Made?

Agghh black tea… it has been apart of western culture for many years now and is the go to beverage with a slice of mud cake, Sunday breakfast or as a wonderful base for our iced tea. But how is black tea made?

There are hundreds of different types of black tea, countless recipes to make it and many different countries produce it (e.g. India, Sri Lanka and China). In this blog post I’m going to focus on the general black tea making process and then provide examples with my experiences in China.

Now remember that I’m no expert, but I would like to think that I paid enough attention during my China trip to be able to step you through the black tea making process. I’ll get straight to the point for those who don’t like waffle.

What you need to remember:

· All tea comes from the one plant, camellia sinensis

· While there are basic fundamentals for making black tea, the family recipes at each tea farm are different

The basic fundamentals of the black tea making process are:

1. Pick the specific tea leaves from the camellia sinensis plant

2. Fry the tea leaves to begin oxidization

3. Roll leaves to release moisture

4. Dry leaves

5. Sort leaves

Now, for those who don’t mind the waffle and want to hear about my experiences with black tea production in China, the following is for you.

On our last visit to China, we visited our friend’s family tea farm. The farm was located high up in the mountains, so the view from the farm was absolutely breathtaking. Click the image of their tea garden below to see a panoramic video.

Click on this image to see a panoramic shot of the tea garden

Mum and I were lucky enough to have his family show us their own black tea making process. The tea making process is most definitely an art, which I quickly found out as I attempted to pick the best quality leaves, fry them and roll them myself.

Picking THE TEA

In the tea garden we began with wicker baskets and large wicker hats to protect our pale, easy to burn skin from the blaring sun (it was summer, a not so cool 34 degrees with 67% humidity). Our friend demonstrated how to pick the tips of the plant plus the first big leaf attached to it and then let us have a go.

Mum and I began picking, and I clearly had not listened properly because I only picked the tips and smaller leaves, which is actually what is supposed to go into green tea (face palm). I had been wondering why it had taken me so long to fill my basket while Mum filled hers in no time at all. Thanks to Mum, we had enough tea to move onto the next stage of the process. Click the image of the tea basket to see a video of our awesome tea picking skills.

Click on this image to watch Chloe and Donna pick tea

Frying & Rolling

Our friend’s father began to fill the oven below the stove (which looked like an inbuilt wok) with wood to fuel the fire. Once hot enough, the tealeaves were poured into it and hand tossed to wither them and begin the oxidation process. The leaves were then removed and rolled across a wicker plate to release any excess moisture. I had a go of rolling the leaves (which tested my minimal upper body strength) and hopelessly failed. Click on the photo below to watch the video and laugh along with the others as I attempt to roll tealeaves.

Click on this image to watch Chloe roll tealeaves

After enough moisture was released from the tea, it was once again fried on the stove. Our friend’s father, after seeing I was keen to have a go, let me try frying the tea. I went in thinking I would be able to manage this because it didn’t require any strength. How incredibly wrong I was. I could only manage to fry the leaves for a few seconds before wimping out because of the heat of the stove. Click on the following image so you can laugh at me once again as I try to toss the tealeaves.

Click on this image to watch Chloe toss the tealeaves

So there you have it, the black tea making process in a nutshell! Something to ponder about while you’re sipping your next cup of tea and procrastinating at work.

If you have any questions about the black tea making process or just want to say g’day, leave a comment below and I will get back to you as soon as possible.

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Until next time!

~ Chloe