OUR PROCESS

The green leaf is harvested on a regular basis at intervals ranging from 5-8 days from each field. The manufacture begins from the time the leaf is plucked in the field, and to ensure it retains its freshness, the leaf is sent to the factories from the fields 3-4 times a day.

No sooner it is received at the factory, the leaf is weighed and spread on troughs. This process is called withering. It takes 10-14 hours for the physical and chemical changes to take place, and bring the leaf to soft and rubbery condition suitable for the next stage of manufacture.

Rolling is the process by which the leaf is twisted and the leaf cell walls ruptured to bring the juices to the surface of the leaf. The rolling machines have deep jacket, a pressure cap to apply pressure on the leaf, and the table itself has battens and a cone at the center to twist the leaf. This process takes about 20-30 mins.

Fermentation is the oxidization of the enzymes in the juices, which bring out the flavor, strength and the colour of the liquors and infusions. Fermentations is generally carried out on glass or tiled tables.

The primary objective of Drying is the extraction of moisture and the arresting of fermentation. The fermented leaf contains from 45% - 50% moisture. The leaf is passed through driers, which have circuits of trays with perforation, on which are conveyed the fermented leaf. This process takes about 20-25 minutes.

The fired teas after cooling are Graded / sifted according to size and shape, as the trade demands. The different grades of tea are identified nomenclature. On completion of the grading, teas are Stored in airtight bins of boxes. The sifting is carried out on a series of grading and cleaning machines, which have several trays of different mesh sizes, to separate the tea particles to the various grades of tea and to remove the stalk and fiber.

The made tea is then tasted and assessed by the Tea maker and expert tasters, to ensure it meets all quality standards in terms of leaf appearance, aroma, cup colour and character of the tea. Then they are stored until they are taken for the further process.

Tea blending is the simple process of putting teas of different characteristics together to form a final product. The golden rule of tea blending is to achieve consistency in taste, while reflecting nuances of its different components. Flavouring means adding different flavors to the tea leaves. Tea leaves can be flavored in many ways in making of a blend.

After the tea blending and flavoring process, a sample is sent to the tea department. There, the moisture content of the tea sample is tested. Here we follow a high quality process.

After checking the quality of the tea sample, the stock confirmed to be in the right quality is sent to the tea packaging department. Here, the tea powder is prepared into tea bags. During this process quality controllers constantly check the quality of those packets.

All the tea bags made in this way are packed in the relevant boxes, tins or canisters, and they are systematically packed in big boxes called master cartons and prepared and ready to export.