The black teas produced in Ceylon, India and China are the preferred teas in Europe and America. The freshly picked leaves undergo a long process of transformation, for black must be fermented. And the fermentation of tea requires as much care and close, scientifically controlled attention as does the fermentation of wine. This industrial art constitutes the modern, technological face of these exotic and apparently unchanging tea gardens, and merits the same detailed description as the colorful swirl of saris. But whereas it is pleasant to linger under a shade tree to watch the plucking, ears lightly humming with the music of wind in the leaves or the voices or the murdered songs of the tea pickers, once at the door of the factory it becomes impossible to tarry for long- much less day dream in the thundering din of machines.
Here, men do most of the work. Barefoot laborers and technicians in British styles shorts bustle among an indescribable clutter of machines, amid dim shade, heat and incessant noise.
Every where it is produced, black tea undergoes five successive stages. The leaves are first softened by a withering process that reduces their moisture content by half and enables them to be rolled without breaking. They are spread in thin layers on the wide screen stacked eight inches apart to allow a current of warm air to circulate for roughly twenty four hours. The most modern factories, however now accomplish the task in tunnels or vats, reducing withering time to six hours.
Withering is not followed by rolling (or maceration). The leaves are rolled to break down cell wall and release their essential oils. This was done in the palm of the hand, but has long since been performed by impressive rolling machines composed of heavy metal disks rotating in opposite direction.
The rolled leaves are then placed on long mats to be sorted according to size and condition- whole or broken. This sorting is still done entirely by hand I some gardens, enabling the leaves to be graded into various classes of black tea. In the finest gardens, whole leaves are classified according to the size and the way in which they are rolled, yielding Orange Pekoe, Flowery Orange Pekoe, Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe or Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe, Tippy Golden Broken Orange Pekoe. Finally the so called crushed leaves which are infact small pieces are called dust and Fannings.
