The tea that we drink: what do we know about the way it is produced? Very often even big connoisseurs of this divine drink do not know in detail how it is produced. Below you will find answers to the most frequently asked questions about tea production.

- The tea particles that we see in a brewing pot do not look like tea bush leaves (the tea plant is bush, isn't it?). How is tea processed?

There are several ways of tea processing. The simplest way is to throw green tea leaves into boiling water and boil them for some time. As the legend has it, this recipe was given to the man by the nature itself when tea leaves accidentally fell into the bowl where the Chinese emperor Shen Nun was boiling water for his court. For the sake of truth, though, one should note that the brew prepared in this way does not remind in the slightest way the flavour and aroma of the tea we normally drink and appreciate so much today.

The modern way of producing black and green teas that we consume today appeared in 14th century. Green tea production process consists of three steps and for the black tea one more step is needed.

So, tea is produced in the following way:

First, tea leaves are released from excessive moisture, i.e. they are "withered". For this purpose they are spread on wire grids and left for 18-20 hours. After withering tea leaves become soft and ready for the next operation - rolling.

Rolling is needed to break tea leaves at molecular level and thus free catechins and enzymes that will later produce the unique tea flavour. Special machines called rollers are usually used for this operation. They continuously break and turn over tea leaves. From the rolling machines the broken leaves are transferred to another machine that crushes and sifts tea particles. At this stage tea is also cooled down and aired.

If we stop processing tea after crushing and sifting we will get green tea. For producing black tea - as it was mentioned earlier - tea has to be subjected to one more operation that is called fermentation. In short, fermentation is oxidation of the enzymes contained in tea. During fermentation the substances are produced that render to black tea brew its brown colour and unique flavour and aroma. As an operation fermentation may seem simple. It takes place in a big cool room where tea leaves are spread on some even surface with the layer thickness of around 4 inches. However, the reactions taking place in tea itself are complicated and the exact meaning of some of them is still unknown. To stop fermentation tea is dried. So, now we get bulk black tea.

- Does the place of processing and packaging tea matter?

The initial processing of tea has to start not later than one hour after the leaves are harvested and for this reason it is normally done near to tea estates. Sometimes tea is produced manually at a tiny factory that for years has been serving one famous plantation. Afterwards the processed tea is packed (usually in big multi-layer bags or carton boxes) and delivered to big packaging factories. Their location is not as important as the equipment they use. Only modern machines can properly purify tea from the foreign matters - stalks and the like - and sort tea accordingly to the particle size (this is important for uniform brewing).

-How does the tea particle size affect tea flavour? Is the flavour of large leaf tea better?

There are no reasons to assert that the flavour of large leaf tea is better. The size of tea particles depends on the size of the leaves they are produced from and on the technology used - whether tea leaves were cut or not. Some people believe that tea prepared from whole leaves has better flavour. This is also not true as in China there is a variety of the tea plant that has the tea leaves of 30 cm long. Can you imagine such a tea "particle" in your brewing pot?

By the way, we should not forget about CTC (CTC stands for "cut, tear, curl" or "granular") tea: its production technology implies crushing tea leaves till they become a squashed mass and, in fact, contain no tea particles. However, this does not mean that CTC tea has inferior flavour.

Speaking further about the size of tea particles it should be noted that large particles of dry tea can preserve its flavour and aroma better (this is good as tea can be stored longer). However, the brewing time of such tea increases and this is less convenient.

However, the appearance of tea does give a clue about the quality of tea. Whether big or small, the tea particles in the pack have to be uniform. Otherwise it will be difficult to find the correct brewing time. The particles also have to be tightly rolled and resilient. Dry and fragile leaves are attributes of old tea.

- How are teabags produced?

Special machine dispenses tea in uniform doses - usually 2 grams - into the little bags made of special paper. Then teabags are heat-sealed (no glue is used) and tags are attached to them. Then teabags are put into the cartons.

A few words about the tea used for producing teabags. As a rule, it is small leaf tea. At the production factory tea is sorted accordingly to the tea particle size with a system of sieves. The smallest tea leaves called fannings that go through all sieves are used for teabags.

Sometimes for the production of teabags CTC tea is used. This tea produces darker brew colour and stronger flavour although it has relatively weaker aroma. However, CTC grades are not used for the production of Greenfield teas as each line of teabags fully repeats the flavour and aroma of loose-leaf tea sold under the same brand name. The only difference is in the size of tea leaves which are smaller in teabags to enable them brew faster.