On Aug 11, 9:12 am, cha bing > wrote:

I'm by no means an expert and do not really understand all stages, but
I'll try to add what I have heard/learned from others who are much
more experienced in tea making....

>
> 1. Tea is picked -- this can be mechanical, or hand-done, and can be
> done at several different times of year, or in different conditions,
> or at different stages of tea leaf growth. This variable is huge and
> there are a lot of parts to it.

I think generally speaking weather is extremely important for all
stages. In picking, you're not supposed to pick if it's raining or if
it just rained. Time of day when you pick is important. How you pick
is important. Even how you use your hand to pick it is important (no
squeezing, which bruises the tea). It's complicated...

>
> 2. Withering -- to me, this looks like some sort of abbreviated drying
> process, where leaves are given lots of air and frequently "stirred".
> It can be done indoors or outdoors, but no heat other than sun is
> added. Tea still has significant moisture afterwards and the leaves
> remain very pliable. I really don't understand what this step does. It
> seems like this is almost a sub-step of the next variable.

Withering, afaik, is a step that allows for some oxidation to happen.
You don't wither the tea if you want zero oxidation. Sun is often not
added, from what I understand. Most of the time this is done indoors
in a somewhat airy area - and again, weather plays a factor. How you
place the tea, where you place it, how long do you let it go for, how
you do the "stirring" are all very important. If you screw this step
up, your oolong isn't going to be very good.
>
> 3. Fermentation -- I'm not sure I fully understand how this differs
> from withering, though it may be that the leaves are left in a pile
> and stirred less frequently (or not at all?). This does not appear to
> involve any particular heat sources. I would guess this step would be
> skipped in green or white tea production, because my understanding is
> that this step is what seperates oolongs and red/black tea from the
> green and white tea. Afterwards, I imagine the leaves still have a lot
> of moisture and are still very pliable. Degree of fermentation is a
> huge variable, but there are no other real additives in this step so
> this is a pretty easy variable to identify.

I think withering is where fermentation happens, but it can also
happen in other stages too, for example during picking (woman with
basket of tea that's laden with leaves, somewhat hot (under the sun
and perhaps body heat), leaves are pretty much withering right away --
just a matter of speed and degree, like, say, a sliced apple. There's
usually some oxidation in white tea too...

>
> 4. "Kill-green" -- this can involve pan-frying or oven roasting
> (steaming seems unlikely given the overall goal of reducing moisture)
> but seems to be the first time that a heat source other than the sun
> is added to the mix. I would guess that the tea would have to reach a
> certain temperature to stop the fermentation process. From the Hou De
> video, it is apparent that the leaves can remain flexible after this
> process, though I've seen some other video on long jing production
> that seems to show a finished product after the kill-green step (maybe
> because this step combines the next steps into one for this particular
> tea?)
>
Leaves actually remain quite flexible after this process from what I
understand. Oftentimes rolling takes place after this. For sencha,
for example, you roll them very vigorously after steaming to induce
the tea juices. From what I know that is also an extremely important
step in shaping the taste of the tea -- different degrees of rolling
will change the way things taste. There's machine and hand rolled, but
there's also how much, how heavy, and how long. I don't understand
this fully myself, but a tea that is lightly or not rolled at all,
from what I have heard anyway, can be quite weird -- some puerhs these
days are very lightly rolled because they want to preserve the big
leaf shape, to the detriment of taste.

> 5. Shaping/Further Drying -- after the kill green, the tea may still
> have moisture in it and the leaves may still be pliable. So I guess
> this is when leaves are twisted or rolled, and I imagine that shaping
> process is interspersed with various drying efforts that use some sort
> of heat sources. The variables here that may affect flavor or aging
> potential would be shape and perhaps the drying source (e.g.,
> charcoal, electric heat?). I would guess the goal of all tea
> production is to reduce moisture levels to similar levels, no matter
> the tea, so extent of drying is probably not a variable here. Maybe
> speed of drying process and temperature are variables.

The rolling would've happened by the time you take it to the dryer,
which can be the oven, sun, or whatever. It's just to reduce moisture
to the point where the tea is more or less dry -- one measure is
whether or not when you crush the leaf it becomes powdery or not. If
it doesn't, then it's not dry enough. Makes sense.
>
> 6. Roasting? -- the Hou De video doesn't appear to show tea roasting,
> but tea roasting is clearly a factor in some tea production. I'm not
> sure what that process would do other than further reduce moisture and
> perhaps change the flavor somehow (I imagine you are basically cooking
> the tea, which would change the flavor of anything). The variables
> here would be similar to the drying variables above -- charcoal or
> electric heat, as well as temperature and time. Maybe the drying is a
> type of roasting.
>
I think cooking the tea is sort of what's going on -- and I think what
happens is that by applying heat, some of the aromatics are changed or
dissipated, and thus give the tea a different flavour. In some cases
teas are smoked (Lapsang Souchong) where they use pine wood to smoke
it and that's where it gets that distinctive flavour.

> I hope this doesn't repeat too much anything that has previously been
> posted. Seems like I never see this information in one place. If
> anyone has comments on the above steps in the form of additions/
> subtractions/clarifications, I would be appreciative.
>

Again, caveat being that I am only a beginner in understanding this.
Perhaps a tea grower can add to this discussion? It'll be very
appreciated

MarshalN
http://www.xanga.com/MarshalN