Black tea belongs to the category of fully fermented tea, which is refined from the buds and leaves of tea trees through typical processes such as withering, kneading, fermentation, and drying. [15]
wilt
There are two kinds of wilting: indoor heating wilting and outdoor sunlight wilting. The degree of wilting requires the fresh leaf tip to lose luster, the leaf texture is soft and the stem is constantly folded, and the leaf veins are transparent.
twist
In the early days of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, tea was kneaded with both feet. In the 1950s, an iron-wood structure double hydraulic tea kneading and twisting machine was adopted. In the 1960s, the process of kneading and twisting was improved, and an iron type 55 electric rolling machine was adopted to improve the efficiency of tea making. When kneading and twisting, the tea juice should flow out and the leaves should be rolled into strips.
fermentation
Fermentation, commonly known as “sweating”, is the most important step. It refers to putting the kneaded tea embryo in a basket, pressing it slightly, and covering it with a warm water-soaked fermentation cloth to increase the temperature and humidity of the fermented leaves, promote enzyme activity, and shorten the fermentation time. Generally, after 5 to 6 hours, the veins of the leaves are reddish-brown, and they can be roasted and dried. The purpose of fermentation is to oxidize the polyphenols in the tea leaves under the promotion of enzymes, causing the green tea blank to turn red. [15]
Fermentation is a key process in black tea processing. During the fermentation process, polyphenols mainly catechins undergo oxidative polymerization under the action of polyphenol oxidase to form water-soluble oxidation products such as theaflavins, thearubin, tea brown pigments, and polyester catechins. These water-soluble oxidation products together with tea polyphenols, caffeine, amino acids, soluble sugars, etc. constitute the taste of tea soup. [15]
baking
The moderately fermented tea leaves are evenly collected and placed on a water sieve, about 2 to 2.5 kilograms per sieve, and then the water sieve is placed on a hanger, and the next is burned with pure pine wood (the wet one is better), so the small black tea has a unique pure pine smoke aroma. When just roasting, the fire temperature is required to be higher, generally around 80 degrees. The high temperature is mainly to stop the enzyme action and prevent the enzyme activity from causing excessive fermentation, and the leaf bottom is dark and not carried out. Baking generally adopts a drying method, and it is not advisable to turn it over to avoid affecting the uneven dryness and causing external dryness and internal dampness. Generally, it can be baked in 6 hours, mainly depending on the firepower. Generally, it is baked until the tentacles are thorny, ground into powder, and the dryness is reached, and then it is cold.
rebaking
Tea is a substance that easily absorbs water, and it must be refilled before being sold to retain its inner substance, with a moisture content of no more than 8%.
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