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Tea processing

Even though each plant used for each tea is unique and tastes different the way you process the leaves from that plant to be made into tea is about the same for each variety. Depending upon the region the leaves and buds are picked by hand mainly in the spring and early summer months, rarely in the fall and winter.  They are picked by hand by expert pickers because that way they can insure the perfect leaves are chosen and the plant remains unharmed to produce another crop of tea leaves.
The leaves are then laid out to dry or oxidize which is a necessary process.  The chlorophyll in the leaves is broken down and the tannins is released.  This is also called fermentation. Heat, humidity and light all play a very important role in this part of the process and it is up to the tea processor as to how long the leaves will stay in this stage. It will be a shorter time for green tea then black tea and so depending on the herb the fermentation time will be adjusted.
As the dry leaves begin to age the flavor of the tea inside of them becomes enhanced.  The leaves will curl as they dry and the aroma is unbelievably delightful, just ask any tea processor!  Some of the buds from the plant will be used in addition to the leaves too depending on the type of tea they are making.
At this point the specific tea leaves are combined with other types of tea leaves to form a unique blend of flavors.  This has gone on since ancient China. In ancient China and other old world countries where teas have been part of their culture they found that by processing the tea leaves and then combining them together with other tea leaves of a different plant variety they could create some of the more powerful blends and can be used for medicinal purposes and well as for pleasure.

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