ROLLING AND ROLL BREAKING:
PURE ORTHODOX BLACK TEA MANUFACTURING PROCESS
Tea is scientifically knowing as Camellia sinensis and this can introduce as the queen of the beverage crops. As an aromatic and refreshing drink most of the people in the world love to have pleasure of cup of tea to relieve their thirst. That is why tea has become the second most consumed beverage in the world. The tea was introduced to the world by a Chinese emperor Shennong in 2737 BCE. When considering about tea, over 75% of tea manufactured is black tea, while other 25% is possessed by white tea, green tea and the oolongs and yellow tea. Apart from this there are some other products like, rooibos tea, rose hip tea, mate tea and also the chamomile tea. Actually, we could say that tea is a great source of xenobiotic and the secondary metabolites.
When considering about the Sri Lankan tea, Sri Lanka is a country very popular for tea since ancient times. Accordingly, annual tea production of Sri Lanka is about 340 million kilograms per annum and the tea plantation covered the area about 203000 hectares approximately. Through the world pure Ceylon tea is very popular as a result of that Sri Lanka takes 4th place of major tea exporting countries in the world. Major importer of Sri Lankan tea is Turkey.
Now let’s see how this tea is manufactured. Normally there are three categories of black tea manufacturing. Actually, this categorization has done according to the machineries used in the rolling process. Those three major methods are,
- Pure Orthodox Black Tea Manufacturing
- Orthodox Rotor Vane Black Tea Manufacturing
- CTC Manufacturing
Pure orthodox manufacturing is the most popular black tea manufacturing process in Sri Lanka. It consists of the steps like withering, rolling, roll breaking, fermentation, drying/firing and at last the grading and packaging.
What is rolling and roll breaking…?
After withering tea leaves are going through rolling process. Rolling can complete by kneading, rolling, and crushing. This can be done by manually or mechanically. Rolled tea leaves then face to roll — breaking step. In the roller, tea leaves are broken — up by coarse mesh sieves or roll- breakers. Finely broken leaf particles fall through the sieves are directly move to the fermentation chamber and rest coarse leaves are again send to the further rolling. By doing rolling, we objected to break down structures inside and outside of the tea leaves. This process is important to co — mingling of oxidative enzymes with various substrates to start the oxidation process. Rolling is essential for support oxidation and changing the taste profile of the tea.
Hand rolling
Hand-rolled or artisanal teas- High-quality loose-leaf tea is often hand-rolled. The leaves are given special attention to ensure that they do not become severed. Although it is not widely utilized nowadays, the hand rolling method employs the use of hands and involves more meticulous and timeconsuming operations. To begin, the leaves are delicately rolled from side to side by hand to gently squeeze the moisture out of them. Then, to form the leaves into more of a ball shape, rolling is beginning with relatively increasing force. By breaking down the cell walls, it makes it easier to pump water out of the leaves. This causes chemical reactions to occur, resulting in a sweeter-tasting end product. Although the procedure yields high-quality tea, it is inefficient.
Machine rolling
The most prevalent method utilized by commercial tea manufacturing plants is machine rolling. It makes use of machinery like traditional tea rollers and roll breakers to increase efficiency by mildly hurting or totally chopping huge amounts of leaves in less time. By twisting and crushing withered tea leaves to break their cell walls and extract the leaf juice and oils trapped within the cells, the technique enhances chemical changes and gives the tea its distinct aroma by setting suitable circumstances for enzymatic oxidation.
Approximately 275 kg of withered tea leaves are fed into a roller and rolled for 15–20 minutes to complete this operation. The withered leaf is crushed when it comes into contact with a slow rotating roller at 70 rpm and a counter rotating roller at 700 rpm. The rolling machine is made up of two large, heavy metal plates that rotate against each other. As the tea leaves pass through the metal plates, the cell walls rupture and the contents of the tea leaves are exposed to atmospheric oxygen and begin to oxidize. It revolves around the enzyme’s polyphenol oxidase and polyphenol.
The chemical reactions that convert the polyphenols known as catechins into flavonoids known as theaflavins and thearubigins are accelerated by the pressure between the leaf and the rolling table’s surface. Tender leaves are detached, twisted, torn on, crushed, stalks are broken up, leaves are sliced down into smaller sections, and the leaf juice is squeezed out of the broken leaf particles during the rolling process. Those leaves are unloaded from the roller and transported to the roll breaker, which includes mesh to separate the rolled leaf particles from the bulk, after 15–20 minutes. A mesh separates the appropriately sized and twisted leaf particles from the coarse leaves inside the roll breaker.
Large, coarse leaves that have been separated are fed back into the roller for more rolling. William created the first successful devices for rolling or curling the tea leaf. Although many more outstanding machines have since been created, the principle upon which the best known and most successful of Jackson’s machines work is that of superposed rolling plates, to each of which motion is supplied by compound or double crankset.
The orthodox roller
We can divide the tea available in the market into three types according to their manufacturing method. The orthodox tea is one famous method of making tea. Today we are discussing it. When tea is made, using only traditional methods, we call it orthodox tea. This manufacturing process mainly uses a machine called an orthodox roller. Below is an image of that roller. The original machine was invented by W. McKercher in 1930 and is commonly considered to be a CTC (cuttear-curl) machine. To understand this, it is better to have an idea of tea manufacturing.
Objectives of orthodox tea rolling
- Mixing of chemicals
- Breaking compounds to required size
- To Get a good appearance
Some tea grades of Orthodox manufacture
▪ Pekoe ▪ Pekoe1. ▪ FOB-Flowery Orange Pekoe. ▪ OP- Orange Pekoe. ▪ OP1- Orange Pekoe. ▪ FBOP-Flowery Broken Orange Pekoe. ▪ BOP-Broken Orange Pekoe. ▪ BOP1-Broken Orange Pekoe 1. ▪ Fanning’s and Dust
By using this method mainly, we can produce leafy tea grades not power grades like C.T.C teas. Usually, we consider the quality of made tea by observing blackness and taste. The Orthodox tea is a fully fermented tea; therefore, it consists of a lot of theaflavins and thearubigins. So, there are many health benefits of drinking orthodox tea. We can get the following benefits by drinking two or three cups of orthodox tea per day.
Major health benefits of drinking orthodox tea.
- Possible anti-cancer effects
- Improved metabolism
- Protecting against atherosclerosis
- Reducing blood pressure
- Protecting against diabetes
- Stress Relief
- Better to Immune System
- Healthy Digestive Tract
- Happiness Factor
- Increased Energy
There is a good demand for orthodox tea, mainly from the Middle East and Russia. The most popular and best pure orthodox tea in the world is made in Sri Lanka and it is popularly known as Ceylon Orthodox Tea.
Pure orthodox method and other method
Despite the fact that the main ingredient — the Camellia Sinensis plant — is the identical, the final result is significantly different. Orthodox teas have a more layered, bright, and sharp flavor, whereas CTC teas brew faster, stronger, and have very powerful flavors, including bitter flavors. This is why CTC teas are great for tea bags and are commonly served with milk, honey, or other sweeteners to balance the flavors, whereas orthodox teas are normally sipped alone or with a piece of citrus to give a little additional freshness and vitamins. Orthodox teas are more of an artistic craft and require a lot more human care. CTC teas can also be of excellent quality; however, this processing method tries to increase output levels by creating vast volumes quickly while maintaining a consistent taste. Orthodox tea needs more attention from plucking to finishing, The CTC machines will properly crush, tear, curl, and process the leaves in hours, but producing black tea the traditional manner might take more than 24 hours. As previously stated, this traditional rolling and roll breaking procedure is critical in tea manufacturing for releasing essential oils and juices within the leaves to increase the refreshing flavor and lovely aroma of tea while maintaining the highest possible quality and efficiency. As a result, it is critical to safeguard and enhance this method in order to create pure orthodox black tea of superior quality and efficiency.
References
Anon., 2022. [Online] Available at: https://tea101.teabox.com/anintroduction-to-tea
Anon., 2022. Difference between orthodox and CTC tea. [Online] Available at: https://www.renegadetea.com/blogs/renegad e-rumblings/differences-between-orthodoxand-ctc-teas
Anon., 2022. How is tea made. [Online] Available at:https://twinings.co.uk/blogs/news/how-is-tea-made
Anon., 2022. Tea Processing techniques used in holy mountain’s loose leaf tea. [Online] Available at: https://www.holymtn.com/homepage/tea/tea -brewingprocessing/teaprocessing/#:~:text=Rollbreaking%20From%20the%20roller%20the %20tea%20emerges%20as
Anon., n.d. [Online] Available at: https://www.srilankabusiness.com/tea/abouttea/industrycapability.html#:~:text=Sri%20Lanka%20is %20an%20island,inland%20areas%20of%20 the%20island
Anon., n.d. [Online] Available at: https://www.pureceylontea.com/productiondetailed-process/
