Tea Manufacture Glossary茶叶加工术语表

C.T.C
Cut, Tear and Curl describes a machine which literally cuts, tears and curls the withered leaf, breaking the leaf veins. This releases the juices or enzymes of the leaf and completes the second stage of manufacture. Today, CTC tea, or Unorthodox tea is applied to all types of manufacture other than Orthodox. It is used in the second stage of manufacture where the tea leaves are broken into particles before fermentation and drying.

Drying
See firing.

Fermentation
The tea trade term for the third stage of tea manufacture whereby the leaf enzymes oxidise on contact with air. The broken and crushed leaf is laid out on trays or in troughs and slowly as oxidisation takes place, change from green to a rusty brown colour. For black tea oxidisation period can take up to four hours, for a semi-fermented tea the leaf is fired or dried before oxidisation is complete.

Firing
The tea trade term for the drying of tea after oxidisation and forms the fourth stage of manufacture. The oxidised leaf, or partially oxidised leaf in the case of semi-fermented tea is tipped into an oven onto a conveyor belt which carries the fermented leaf through the oven slowly drying it. It comes out of the oven as black tea, or semi-green in the case of the semi-fermented teas.

Leg Cut
A mechanised methods for cutting leaves prior to fermentation and firing or drying. Eliminated the withering stage of manufacture and produced smaller leaf particles such as fannings and dust. This machine is not widely used and has been replaced by more modern machines which do not eliminate any stages of manufacture.

L.T.P.
Lawrie Tea Processor, a modern CTC machine.

Orthodox
A machine, which takes its name from the first mechanised method used in the second stage of tea processing that rolls the withered leaves thus breaking the veins and releasing the leaf enzymes. Teas made by this method are known as Orthodox teas.

Packing
The final stage of manufacture after sorting each grade of tea is placed into either tea chests or tea sacks. Each chest or sack is stamped with the name of the estate, grade of tea and weight

Rotovane
A modern machine for the second stage of manufacture which produces a CTC tea.

Sorting
The fifth stage of manufacture. The dried leaf is sorted mechanically by sifting the different leaf size particles or grades through different size meshes.

Tasting
The sixth stage of manufacture where all the grades of tea are tasted after each make to maintain strict quality control at all making stages and to ensure consistent making standards.

Withering
The first stage of tea manufacture in the tea factory. Plucked leaf is spread on tables or trays and left to wither in the natural warm air. Today, in some tea factories this process is aided by warm air fans built under the withering area.