Processing of Black Tea

INTRODUCTION

Tea is a beverage made from the leaves of the shrub Camellia sinensis, consumed all around the world. It is prepared by mixing the leaves in the hot or boiling water. The origin of tea is believed to happen in Southern and Eastern parts of China, Assam region of India, Myanmar and Tibet. But, the country that extensively started the cultivation of tea was China for thousands of years(Chakraverty, 2003; Mohammad, 2011). There are two varieties of tea, Camellia sinensis sinensis from China and the second variety, Camellia sinensis assamica coming from Assam of India (Harler, 1964).

China became the fountainhead for trading tea and the first country to get the culture of drinking tea from China was Japan in sixth century. After that, in the seventeenth century the Europeans made trade with China for tea starting with the Dutch. But, China was a tough trading partner as they seek not to share the methods of cultivation of tea and moreover, they only demanded gold, silver and copper in return (Goodwin, 1990). The Chinese were able to keep the secrets so discreet that it was only in the nineteenth century that the Europeans came to know that the black and green tea actually come from the same plant (Ukers, 1935). It was the British East India Company that introduced the cultivation of tea in India in the nineteenth century. From there on India became the major tea producing country after China. Currently, about 50% of world’s Tea comes from India and China alone (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations., 2004). The biggest Tea importing countries include Russia, United States of America, Saudi Arabia and United Kingdom.

Tea is consumed all over the world not only for its simulating effect but for the med...

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....trit.or.tz/Training%20modules/Module%20No.%203%20PLUCKING.pdf – Training Module on tea plucking and Quality Control - Tea Research Institute of Tanzania.

3) http://www.upasitearesearch.org/ctc/ - UPASI Tea Research Foundation – Tamil Nadu, India. (Recognized by Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, Government of India)

4) http://www.iso.org/iso/home/store/catalogue_tc/catalogue_detail.htm?csnumber=8250 – International Organization for Standards - ISO 3103:1980 - Tea -- Preparation of liquor for use in sensory tests.

5) http://www.tocklai.net/activities/tea-manufacture/sorting/ - TOCKLAI Tea Research Institute, India.

Sources of Pictures

Fig 1: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tea_processing_chart_II.svg

Fig 2: http://2.imimg.com/data2/JT/LK/MY-98804/rotorvane-500x500.jpg

Fig 3: http://www.aarkay.net/images/Ultima1.jpg

Fig 4: (Gill et al., 2011)