Historically, all tea was hand-rubbed. Hand-rolled tea refers to the process of using hands to roll the tea leaves which takes place in a multi-stage process. The workstation where the tea leaves were rolled was heated by combustible fuels like coal. Nowadays, it is done using electricity. It's a Chinese, Japanese, and Taiwanese process that is not followed in India.
Different places in the world pluck teas in different seasons. They do it when the tea leaves are at their most flavoursome. These harvests are known as 'flushes'.
Teas have varying values at auction that depend on the time of flushes. For example, 'first flush' Darjeeling tea is known to be the most flavoursome. The 'second flush' of Assam tea is known for being smooth and slightly malty.
All tea starts the same - plucked from the lush green gardens. Everything that happens after that in the factory decides the destiny of the leaves. Will the leaves end up black, green, or in between?
Black tea is the most common tea consumed all over the world. There are two ways of making tea: the Orthodox and the CTC method. Tea needs the same attention to quality and detail as diamonds. The grading system is established to ensure tea leaves are sifted and searched through for the highest quality. We look at the sizes of the leaves, shapes and colour and more.
We follow the below method for Green tea:
● After the tea leaves arrive at the factory, initially steaming is done. This process is to prevent oxidation activity within the leaves. It also removes strong smells from the leaves and makes them tender. The quality of many aspects of the tea such as its flavor, aroma, and color depends on this important steaming process.
● 12-17 hours of drying and then the leaves are ready to be rolled.
● Earlier, the rolling process was done by hand but now it is done by the rolling machine after which the leaves look thin and wiry.
● After this, they go through the drying process. If the drying is inadequate, it will cause the tea to be discolored, deficiently preserved, or have a bad aroma.
To make green tea, the oxidation process is completely left out to give green tea leaves their light, fresh flavour and delicate colour.
● Green tea is often pan-dried or steamed to kill any active enzymes which could react with the air.
The fermentation stage is the most important among other stages because final tea quality characteristics are developed at this stage. The time of fermentation directly relates to the chemical changes during the process. Therefore, fermentation time has a significant impact on the final tea quality.
The optimum time for fermentation is found in almost all tea factories. It is based on the decision of humans- to detect the aroma and color changes of tea leaves.
After the procedure, the leaves are rolled and packaged. Our proprietary Carbon-free tea processing technology do away with the direct use of combustible fuel; replacing it with electricity to accomplish the delicate process of steaming, rolling, and drying the tea leaves under controlled temperature and pressure.
Deroi’s signature fold style is achieved by dexterous human hands, carefully hand-packed at the source.
The cut, tear, and curl (CTC) method starts off with withering. Then a series of rollers cut, tear and curl them to form fine granules of tea. Then it is the same as the orthodox method.
