Silver Tips Tea Blog » Tea Manufacture

Rajah Banerjee/Makaibari in the news

Anupa — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 13:47:02 +0000

I got a very excited call from my sister-in-law last week saying she heard Rajah quoted on NPR Marketplace (National Public Radio). I couldn’t believe it! So here it is – a short piece on organic co-operatives in Darjeeling. Read or listen to it. Rajah has been nurturing this fledgling operation to grow and manufacture organic tea and has procured buyers for their leaf. EKTA, the name of the co-operative, means Unity – a fine name. One more step towards sustainable farming. (Photo shows Rajah with Sencha and Jade, two German Shepherds. In the background, a royal Bengal tiger, from the days of yore when no one knew any better).

Feedback on 2009 Makaibari

Silver Tips — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 11:52:45 +0000

Here’s the first report, received yesterday, from one of our loyal Makaibari fans on this year’s crop:

“After hearing all the bad weather reports from the Makaibari Estate earlier this year, I didn’t know what to expect. I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised when I sampled the first flush tea. And the second flush tea salvaged the season with great quality.

Thank you, Anupa. Another satisfied customer!”

Excellent news! And I hope the rest of our customers think so too.

Makaibari 2009 now available

Silver Tips — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 11:39:10 +0000

How auspicious that the first chests we will open at our new office & warehouse today will be the 2009 Makaibari 1st and 2nd flush. We will be opening the season with lot DJ 14/09 which is the first flush and DJ 110/09 which will be the second flush.

In Darjeeling, each day’s manufacture is given a sequential lot number, so DJ 14 is the 14th lot manufactured this year. On the wholesale level, seasoned buyers always know to ask for lot numbers to assure themselves they are getting the right product and for purposes of traceability. Organic and Fair Trade certification require that lot numbers be on every label, when sold on a wholesale basis. For our retail customers, although we may not put the lot # on the label, we do note it in our records and if you ever need to know, please ask. Enjoy the tea and let us have your feedback. This was a long time coming!

Tea Manufacture – China

Silver Tips — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 16:17:55 +0000

Although the details of manufacture may change from country to country, just about all whole leaf manufacture involves hand-sorting. Here is an excellent picture from one of our organic suppliers in China. We work with several, not only for our own tea needs, but that of several larger tea companies whom we supply. Notice the concentration of each worker and the clean, hygienic environment.

Plucking Tea

Silver Tips — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 19:35:15 +0000

Yesterday, I was once again asked about the tea leaf – my customer called it “raw tea”. Was it green and was it fresh and how does it get manufactured? I explained about plucking tea (yes, plucking, not picking) – that each day, teams of workers, usually women, pluck a specified area of bushes. The top two leaves and the opening bud are plucked and tossed into a basket, in this case bamboo. The basket is weighed at strategically placed weighing stations and those plucking more than the minimum standard for the day, receive bonus wages. The leaf then enters the factory for manufacture – withering, rolling, fermenting, drying, sorting, packing…it varies with the type of tea.

New season’s teas

Silver Tips — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 12:08:16 +0000

Glad to report that our air freight shipment of the 2009 Makaibari 2nd flush is almost here. I think you’ll be happy with the selections we’ve made this year. After the disappointing first flush crop which was affected by drought, the 2nd flush saw the benefit of ideal weather conditions – rain at night, sun during the day thus resulting in plenty of great leaf.

Thank you for all your queries and for being patient. We will post the new arrivals prominently on the home page of our site and change the year against each Makaibari tea as they become available. A larger sea shipment is scheduled to arrive late August which will bring even more new lots.

Leaf Styles

Silver Tips — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 11:17:53 +0000

Tea comes in all kinds of styles and shapes. Black tea is often associated with a grade:

OP – orange pekoe (denoting a full leaf tea)
FOP – flowery orange pekoe
BOP – broken orange pekoe
TGFOP – tippy, golden flowery orange pekoe

Within the grade, however, appearances can differ widely. Pictured on the right here is a classic, wiry Ceylon OP. An Assam, Nilgiri or Keemun OP will have a completely different look and usually not have that long, wiry leaf style. It is important then to recognize regional variances in tea.

On the left is a Ceylon pekoe which is a more rolled, dense type of leaf. Both are black teas although you can see that the OP has silver tips whereas the pekoe does not.

Tea Manufacture – Black Tea

Silver Tips — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 17:37:00 +0000

What color is fresh tea leaf? And how does black tea become black? We get this question at just about every Tea Tasting session and from our regular customers. The simple answer is that all leaf starts out as green. The first step in black tea manufacture is called Withering. Here we show a picture of a withering trough where fresh leaf is placed and dry hot air is applied to it from below for a period of 10-14 hours. The main objective is to remove 60-70% of the natural moisture in the leaf. After this, the leaf goes through a rolling machine where the curl and shape of the tea take form, followed by a calming process allowing the leaf to oxidize and finally drying and sorting. It enters the dryer as green leaf and after high heat is applied to it, it comes out as black leaf.

The perils of agriculture

Silver Tips — Sat, 16 May 2009 10:51:00 +0000

We sometimes forget how dependent we are on the weather. How out of our control it is. This year, the regions of Assam and Darjeeling in northern India experienced a devastating, lingering drought, described by many as the worst in their living memory. It has played havoc with our Spring purchases. In fact, the organic garden in Assam that is our stock in trade, Rembeng, is unable to supply us leaf for several months and they served official notice to that effect. Our own garden, Makaibari, had a very late First Flush with none of the pronounced lightness we’ve come to associate with the early season plucking.

We’ve been scrambling to fill our Assam void with leaf from other gardens, to the degree that it is available. There aren’t that many organic Assams to start off with so this is not an easy task. So the next time you pour a cup of Darjeeling or Assam, don’t take it for granted.

The art of tea

Silver Tips — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 12:13:00 +0000

The weather is improving in Darjeeling but still, not a drop of rain. You can’t hurry Mother Nature. Some years the season starts early March. Of late, with the climate changing across the globe, the first flush can be as late as the 3rd week of March with a decent amount of leaf only becoming available in April. One never knows.

The winter season gives tea gardens an opportunity to clean out factories, refurbish and repair equipment and provides workers with some time off. This is earned pay. Tea estate workers must work when there is leaf because most of the world’s tea is dormant in the winter. Darjeeling had a very cold start to the winter last year but now the days are warming while the nights are still chilly. Gurkha unrest continues. Their demands for a separate state resulted in many ‘bandhs’ or strikes in the past few months. Tourism was adversely affected – a major source of revenue for the Darjeeling area.

Stay tuned – when the new season begins, you will be the first to know.

(Photo courtesy of Matt Monroe).