The diagram details the way in which black tea is manufactured for commercial sale through a traditional and modern method.
Overall, the process of producing black tea involves four stages, beginning with picking tea leaves and ending with drying in the oven.
To begin, good quality tea leaves are picked manually by taking their bud and two top leaves to ensure that they meet standards. Then, the tea leaves are placed on a rack through the withering process which decreases their moisture, leaving 60% from their initial state. After that, they undergo a series of cutting, torning, and curling to produce tea bags. This process can only be done through a modern technique, involving a cutting machine. Moreover, this technique is quicker and creates only a smaller granular.
Conversely, by employing a traditional method which releases enzymes from leaves, the tea leaves are rolled until it becomes flat, resulting in a loose tea product.
Both tea bags and loose tea products are dried, changing them to a copper color. This occurs because some enzymes and air leave. After drained, both of them also release flavor and aroma, resulting 97% moisture in total.