Aaron McGuire

Tea Cultivation

Climate/Conditions

1. Weather

I. Temperature

a. Range 8-35ºC

b . Ideal 18-23ºC

c. Below 13ºC Production drops

II. Rain

a. mainly a rain watered crop

b. area’s that have 1150-6000mm ideal

c. If no rain in area, or bad year can be watered by man (irrigation etc.)

III. Sunlight

a. Most production time is late summer where sunlight lasts for average of 13.5 Hours

2. Other Conditions

I. Soil

a. Ideal temperature 20ºC

b. Sandy soil is best

II. Elevation

c. In general the higher the better quality

d. Above 1100m

Harvest

1. When

a. Harvest for higher quality tea is early in April before the spring rains

b. Time of day is early in the morning, before the sun rises

c. For highest yield harvest in late summer when the days are the longest

2. Who

a. Women, because of their delicate hands. They will not damage tea leaves

Types

1. Green

a. most commonly drank in China

2. Oolong

a. Brown Tea

b. About 60% fermented

c. More popular in northern China, but in general not drank often

3. Red (Black)

a. Rarely drank in China

b. In China the North drinks the most red tea

c. Mostly drank by Europeans

d. Drank with sugar, milk, and or cream

4. White

a. Very Rare

b. White because harvested very early in the year while buds still have white hairs on them

5. Flavored

a. Flavored with Flowers pettles.

b. Almost never drank by Chinese, they say the flower over powers the delicate taste of the tea.

Fermentation

1. Green

a. Harvest

b. Lay out to dry for 16-18 hours

c. Rolling 30-45min; looses about 70% moisture

d. Fermentation 2-3 hours

e. Slowly baked

f. Final tea has about 2-3% moisture

2. Oolong

a. Same are green but dried longer

b. About 3X as long

c. This is the oxidation process

d. Almost no moisture left so shelf life is longer

3. Red

a. Same as Oolong but even longer drying period

b. After final drying, leaves are pan fried to stop oxidation process

c. Longest shelf life

4. White

a. Harvested very early in the year

b. After harvest leaves are aloud to sit out for a few hours at low temperature (under a tree)

c. No rolling process

d. Very short oxidation period

5. Flavored

a. Same as green

b. During fermentation process any flower petals are added as to flavor the tea leaves.

c. Only very cheap tea is used