In Coonoor, in the southern hilltop region of India we visited a tea plantation to learn how tea is grown and harvested. This region of India is famous for it's tea and it is exported all over the world. Do you have Indian tea in your cupboard? Here is a quick look at how things are done!
The tea grows in huge fields with a few trees that help with the water levels in the soil. The crop is picked 34 times a year, by HAND. Here, we saw the ladies in the fields picking the tea leaves.
The tea leaves are then set out on big tables with industrial fans under them. The tea is left like this for 10 hours to dry out. then it is drpped through a hole in the floor and goes through a crushing machine in the basement, when it comes out it is soft.
Next, the leaves go through a series of heating and cooling. When they are heated the color changes from green to brown. Then the brown leaves are roasted over coal. In the end they come out of the roaster looking more like the tea in our tea bags!
Now the tea is ready to be bagged for sale!
No comments:
Post a Comment