Raw Material
As in all other products, one of the most important factors determining the quality of tea is the raw material. The quality of tea offshoots is affected by the picking standard, budding and offshoot period, which, in return, affects the quality of the tea.
Chemical and Biochemical Components of Tea Leaves
Theoretically,
different tea products can be produced using the fresh offshoots of tea plants. However, in practice, it is more prefferable to use offshoots with different chemical, physical and biologic characteristics to produce different tea products. For instance, before the benefits of polyphenol for human health was known, C.sinensis var. assamica was preferred for black te production and C.sinensis var. sinensis with low polyphenol for green tea production.
How to Harvest Tea using Scissors
Before tea plants produce shoots in seedbeds (in February- March), the surface is flatted. Dividing tea gardens into parts and making flattening in different times allow the crop to reach harvesting maturity in different times and expand the period of harvest. In this way, fresh leaves can be picked continuously.
Harvesting in tea gardens reaching maturity is performed with bagged scissors. When the bag of scissors gets full, harvested tea leaves are poured on a fabric material. Tea leaves on the fabric material are observed. Wrongly harvested leaves and twigs are selected with hand and removed from the crop through breaking off properly. Moreover, tough and dry leaves, visible weeds and other leaf varieties are eliminated from the crop. Harvesting continues in this way.
When the fabric material is full of leaves, another one is laid. Fabric material full of tea leaves is carried to cold places for protecting leaves from the Sun. Tea leaves on fabric material are not crunched or compressed. In order to prevent harvested crop from drying, warming or burning from the Sun, necessary measures are taken. Harvested crop is never exposed to the water.
Wet tea leaves on the fabric material are taken to the purchasing store toward the opening hour of purchasing store. Material is laid open here for ventilating wet tea leaves. Crops not complying with the norm are selected and made suitable for purchasing. Crop is kept waiting for the control by an expert.
It is important to sell wet tea leaves before they become dry. For that reason, just amount to be sold in a day is harvested. Harvested crop is not left for sale in the following day.
For early shooting of next crop, all leaves are not trimmed during the harvesting of wet tea leaves. A leaf is left on each seedbed. Green view of tea surface is conserved after each harvesting. Shoots of the previous year are not harvested by any means.
Tea seedbeds with plentiful shoots and fresh offshoots give higher quality and fruitful crop. Therefore, you must make TRIMMING in due form.