Delicious black tea

Author: (Japanese) Asahi Shimbun Publishing House Editorial Department, translated by Mao Li Jianwen
Translator: Mao Li Jianwen / Country:
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2001-06-01
Features: The production process of black tea begins with picking tea leaves, and the timing varies by region. Picking tea leaves does not mean collecting all the leaves on the tea plant but rather "picking one bud and two leaves" or "picking the top leaves." This means picking the new buds that have not yet bloomed along with the two tender leaves below them. In India and Sri Lanka, tea leaves are picked manually, one by one. To produce 10 kilograms of black tea, an actual 40 kilograms of tea leaves are required, making the labor extremely intensive. The freshly picked leaves must undergo many processes to be made into black tea. Here, we will briefly introduce the traditional tea-making method. The seven steps of black tea production are withering, which means: to evaporate half of the moisture from the fresh leaves, place them in a withering room, and use warm air to draw out the moisture. The second step is rolling, which means: rolling the fresh leaves with a cylinder to extract tea juice and promote fermentation with enzymes. The third step is breaking up clumped tea leaves and sieving, which means: separating the tea leaves that have clumped together due to rolling, allowing them to cool, and then sieving them to shape the leaves and sort them by size. The fourth step is fermentation, which means: spreading the tea leaves evenly and fermenting them in a fermentation shed. This step determines the aroma and color of the tea. The fifth step is drying, which means: using hot air to dry the tea leaves, stopping fermentation, and completing the black tea production process.
The important black tea blending process: The black tea production process was introduced earlier, but the black tea at this stage is still a raw tea and not yet finished. The next step is the important "blending" process. For example, Darjeeling tea, which most people think is a single-variety tea, is actually not. It must be blended. This does not mean that the tea made after blending is impure. Even tea from the same tea garden can have different qualities due to different picking times. Therefore, tea leaves picked from different places in the same region are blended to produce tea with the same taste every time. Sometimes, people also blend tea from different regions such as India, Sri Lanka, and Kenya. The tea blending process must be carried out under the guidance of tea experts. After going through the above steps, various brands of black tea can finally become products and be sold to general consumers.
Basic black tea brewing method: To brew a delicious cup of black tea, you do not need advanced brewing techniques. Simply place black tea leaves in a teapot, pour boiling water, and steep it for a moment. However, there are rules to follow regarding the use of teapots and other tea utensils, the selection of water quality, the temperature of the boiling water, and the steeping time. The most important rule is that you must use boiling water to brew black tea. The boiling water used must be fresh and full of bubbles. In other words, use freshly boiled water to brew black tea, allowing the bubbles to quickly circulate the tea leaves in the teapot, so that the components in the tea leaves can be fully extracted. Absolutely do not use water boiled by a water heater, reboiled water, or excessively boiled water to brew black tea. The steeping time varies depending on the grade, shape, and size of the tea leaves. OP (whole leaf form) takes about 5 minutes, BOP (broken leaf form) takes about 3 minutes, and BOPF (fine broken leaf form) takes about 2 minutes. Additionally, the amount of tea leaves used for a cup of tea is generally 5 grams for whole leaf form, 3 grams for broken leaf form, and 2 grams for fine broken leaf form.