Nurturing the tea bushes and treating the soil in which they grow are an integral part of tea cultivation. Regular application of fertilizer ensures healthy leaf growth.
For commercial manufacture the ‘flush’ or leaf growth on the side branches and stems of the bush are used. Generally two leaves and a bud are plucked - a skilful operation carried out in Sri Lanka by women. Over the years female workers have acquired the ability to quickly pluck the leaves, which are then transferred to baskets carried on their backs. A tea plucker usually aims for a daily target of 15 to 20 kg of tea leaves. The plucked tea is then weighed and transported to the nearby tea factory with as little delay as possible.
A tea factory is a multi-storied building, almost always sited on the tea estates to ensure that the time between plucking and processing tea is kept to a minimum. Once the tea leaves arrive at the factory they are spread across the upper floors of the building in troughs – a process known as withering. Withering removes all excess moisture in the leaf to make it pliable.
Once the tea leaves have been withered, they are rolled, twisted and broken up. This acts as a catalyst for the enzymes in the leaves to react; this chemical reaction occurs when the leaf comes in contact with air, which is necessary for the production of black tea. The leaves are rolled on circular tables, which are fitted with brass or wooden battens. The leaf is fed in from above through an open cylinder and as this cylinder rotates the amount of pressure applied to the leaf against the table surface is adjusted.
The leaf particles are collected after rolling and are spread out on a table where they start to ferment when exposed to warm air. The fermentation time is dictated by the prevailing weather pattern. This brings about the changes necessary to make the tea liquor palatable. As this chemical process of oxidization takes place the colour of the leaf changes from a green to a bright coppery colour.
The fermented leaf is then put into a firing chamber where the hot air prevents any further chemical reaction from taking place. The temperature at which the tea has been fired will determine the keeping qualities of the tea. Once the firing process is completed the leaves emerge hard and black, and are ready for grading.
Grading determines the value of the final product. The tea particles are separated into different shapes and sizes by sifting them through a progressively finer series of meshes. The various grades of tea denote only the size and appearance of the leaf and bear no relation to quality. The graded teas are finally weighed and packed into tea chests or paper sacks and dispatched to the tea brokering companies.
Experimental planting of tea had already begun in 1839 in the botanical gardens of Peradeniya, close to the royal city of Kandy. These plants had arrived from Assam and Calcutta through the East India Company. Commercial cultivation of tea commenced in Ceylon in 1867.
James Taylor, a Scotsman, played a significant role in the development of Ceylon Tea.
A perfectionist by nature, Taylor experimented with tea cultivation and leaf manipulation in order to obtain the best possible flavor from the tea leaves. Taylor’s methods were emulated by other planters and soon, Ceylon Tea was being favorably received by buyers in London, proving that tea could be a profitable plantation crop.
Drink your tea slowly and reverently, as if it is the axis on which the world earth revolves - slowly, evenly, without rushing toward the future.
The story of Ceylon tea begins over two hundred years ago, when the country that is now known as Sri Lanka, was still a British colony and was called "Ceylon". Coffee was the dominant crop on the island, and intrepid British men journeyed across oceans to begin a new life on coffee plantations.
However, coffee was not destined to succeed in Ceylon. Towards the close of the 1860’s the coffee plantations were struck by Hemileia Vostatrix, coffee rust, better known as coffee leaf disease or ‘coffee blight’. As the coffee crop died, planters switched to the production and cultivation of tea.
In 1872 the first official Ceylon tea was shipped to England and contained two packages of 23lbs. The first recorded shipment, however, was dispatched to England in 1877 aboard the vessel The Duke of Argyll.
By the 1880s almost all the coffee plantations in Ceylon had been converted to tea. British planters looked to their counterparts at the East India Company and the Assam Company in India for guidance on crop cultivation. Coffee stores were rapidly converted to tea factories to meet the demand for tea. As tea production in Ceylon progressed, new factories were constructed and an element of mechanization was introduced. Machinery for factories was brought in from England. Marshals of Gainsborough – Lancashire, Tangyes Machine Company of Birmingham, and Davidson's of Belfast supplied machines that are in use even today.
As Ceylon tea gained in popularity throughout the world, a need arose to mediate and monitor the sale of tea. An auction system was established and on 30 July 1883 the first public sale of tea was conducted. The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce undertook responsibility for the auctions, and by 1894 the Ceylon Tea Traders Association was formed. Today almost all tea produced in Sri Lanka is conducted by these two organizations.
Tea bushes on slopes are a familiar part of the Sri Lankan landscape. Over 221,000 hectares or approximately 4% of the country’s land area is covered in tea. Growing best at high altitudes of over 2100 m, these plants require an annual rainfall of more than 100-125 cm.
Tea is cultivated in Sri Lanka using the ‘contour planting’ method, where tea bushes are planted in lines, which follow the contours of the land. Young tea plants are frequently cut back 10-15 cm from the ground to encourage lateral growth. The plants are pruned regularly to prevent them from becoming trees, and the resultant bushes are flat topped and about 1m in height. Pruning methods vary within the country, but the procedure is always a skilful operation, performed with a sharp, specially shaped knife as the tea bush should in no way be damaged during the process.
The tea factories found on most tea estates play a vital role in the final value of the manufactured tea. Regardless of how carefully the leaf has been grown and plucked, if the processes at the factory are not carried out properly the end result will be of a poor quality.
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