Pluck tea leaves-When tea tree grows new leaves and wait until matured enough or fresh leaves, depends on the type of tea. Only pluck in a sunny day, from dawn to before sunset.
Outdoor withering-Allow the leaves to wither under the sun and in the open air to remove moisture.(Photo on the top left)
Indoor withering-Use air drying rack to achieve withering process.(photo on the top right)
Toss and shake the leaves in order to bruise the edges- This bruising causes the leaves to partially oxidize as a portion of the enzymes from the leaves are exposed to the air, usually takes 4-12 hours.(photo at the middle left)
Stir fixation- Put the tea leaves into the panning machine. Using high temperature to panning for destroying the activity of the yeast and stop the fermentation procedure. It can also remove the vegetable smell of the tea and moisture of leaves.(photo at the middle right and final left)
Rolling Machine- After panning, tea leaves will be put into the rolling machine. Tea leaves will be rolled, rotated and squeezed, it turned into curl shape and tea juice come out and cover the tea leaves. This allows the taste of tea come out easily when pour with boiling water. (photo at the final right)
Dry/ Baking tea leaves- To make sure the moisture of leaves is under 5%. Some specific tea will be baked by coal as to roasted oolong tea.
Packaging- Store tea leaves in a seal package and stay in a dry and cool place.
I took those photos when I travelled in TaiTung.
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