The picture illustrates the process of producing black tea.
Overall, the linear process has 5 major stages, commencing with picking fresh tea leaves and ending with drying leaves. An additional point is that the third step is divided into two typical methods, including the modern and traditional ones.
Firstly, only buds and two top leaves are collected by farmers in order to provide high quality tea before being laid on a rack. The next stage is withering, in which those leaves absorb a certain source of passing air from a fan so that 60% moisture can be eliminated. Following this, in terms of the traditional one which produces loose tea, 60%-dry leaves are rolled to become flat and broken by an automatic rolling with a view to releasing enzymes inside them.
Meanwhile, tea leaves are cut, torn and curled rapidly into smaller granular pieces in a modern way to create tea bags for consumers’ convenience compared to the conventional method. After that, these leaves are fermented due to enzymes and natural air to be transformed when being rolled on tiles or cement. Ultimately, these oxidized leaves are fired in the oven to eradicate flavour and aroma, and 97% inside humidity is removed totally.