| About Us - Registration/Login - Contact Us - Message Board - Glossary - Features - B-School - Legal - Biz-End - Orange-GTM - WAP |
| STOCK MARKETS | COMPANIES | SECTORS | ECONOMY | MUTUAL FUNDS | ONLINE TRADING | INVESTOR POINTS |
| |
|
| 'This site is a must read for investors ..' Forbes magazine | |
| India Infoline Sector Database | Wed, 18-Feb-2004 17:23:16 IST (GMT+5:30) | |
| Tea | ||
|
 |
Appendix There are a number of parables about the origin of tea. One of the popular stories relates it to an Indian ascetic called Bodhidharma (526 B.C). Legend has it that Bodhidharma once fell asleep during meditation. On awakening he was so angered at his own indiscretion that he tore off his eyelids and threw them to the ground. A strange plant with the unique characteristic of banishing sleep grew out of his eyelids. Botany Botanically, tea is known as 'Camellia Sinenes'. If allowed to grow on its own, the tea tree rises to a height of 10-15m and flowers like any other perennial semi-deciduous tree. For commercial farming, saplings are planted close to each other and pruned/clipped regularly. The height is not allowed to exceed 100cm for plucking leaves. Tea can be grown by seeds or by vegetative propagation (clonal planting). Tiny tea leaf cuttings from a mother bush are grown in a nursery and then planted. Tea requires warm and humid climate, plenty of well distributed rainfall and long sunny days. It is normally grown in equatorial regions. Soil types can vary from sandy loam to heavy clay with plenty of humus. It can be grown on the slopes of the hills as well as plains. The aroma and flavor is normally much superior in the tea grown on the hill slopes. Plucking Skilled labor (mostly women) plucks fresh two leaves and a bud from each plant, leaving the rest of the bush intact. The plucking is done during the flushes. The term flush describes the growth phase of the apical bud, ie period between two phases of dormancy or resting. The number of leafy flushes in a year may be 5 or 6. Plucking in north India is discontinued during severe winter. In shear or mechanized plucking 6 leaves (including some coarse ones) get plucked, effecting the quality adversely. It does not improve productivity as the bushes take longer to replenish the leaves. Geographical spread Tea is mainly produced in developing tropical countries. India, China, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Kenya, Malawi and Turkey are the major tea growing countries. Black tea Black tea can be processed as Orthodox or CTC. To produce 1 kg of made tea (what we buy off-the-shelf) about 4-5 kg of tea leaves are required. The various operations are: Withering - Fresh leaves are dried (or withered) in withering troughs with the help of ambient or warm air, for 10-12 hours till they lose half of their moisture. CTC (Crush, tear, curl) - The withered leaves are passed through a pair of cylindrical rollers fitted with stainless steel segments (toothlike sharp edges) rotating in reverse directions at a speed of 70 rpm and 700 rpm respectively. The large particles are reprocessed through a rotary sifter and the lighter ones are sent for fermentation. Rolling (Orthodox) - Leaves are twisted in the rollers which releases juices and enzymes to act on the polyphenols. The rolled leaves get coated with the juice. Fermenting - is a process of oxidation and does not involve any bacterial activity. Leaves are left in fermenting drums with high humidity for 45-60 minutes. Colour, strength, pungency, aroma etc are developed at this stage. Firing - The process of fermentation has to be arrested at the right time. The mass of leaves is exposed to hot air (900 C - 1200 C). The process destroys enzymes and renders the leaf black. Sorting & Grading - Sorting is done by size with the help of sieves and by density through winnowing. Fibrous elements are extracted. Whole leaf, broken dust etc are segregated. The sorted tea is packed in tea chests or consumer packs. Green Tea The tea leaves are passed through a steam jacket, which inactivates the enzymes and thus prevents fermentation. The catechins are unchanged and not condensed as in black tea. After the steam treatment, the leaves are cooled by a fan. Then they are passed through a chamber having the rotating shaft, through which hot air is blown. This process reduces the moisture level to 50%, Then the leaves are rolled, dried and re-rolled thrice. They are then passed through a firing stage. Biochemically, green tea has higher contents of amino acids and lower levels of polyphenols. It has a green appearance and becomes yellowish golden after brewing. It has excellent pharmaceutical properties, such as reducing the cholesterol levels, strengthening the walls of blood vessels and is an anti-cancer agent.
|
|
|
| 5PAISA | PREMIUM CONTENT | ADVERTISE WITH US | FEEDBACK | DISCLAIMER | PRIVACY POLICY | JOBS | FAQS | SITE MAP | HELP |
