Black Tea Production and its Health Benefits
This morning we decided to make a cup of black tea. We were wondering what the benefits and negatives are about this black liquid, so we did some research.
As you probably already know it is made of the same plant as green, white, yellow and oolong tea. This is Camellia Sinensis, evergreen bush known as a tea plant, tea tree, … whose leaves and leaf buds are used for the tea production. Black tea is known for its coppery red color so it is called red tea in China. Black tea is made from aged and steamed leaves while green tea is made from fresh green leaves… one day we will make a post about the differences in tea production.
Let’s take a deep dive into the process of black tea production. As we mentioned, there are many types of tea made from the same tea plant. The secret is in the process. For black tea, leaves are plucked from the tea plant and immediately taken to the processing factory. While there are many different kinds of black tea, they all share some basic stages common to any black tea production: withering, rolling, oxidation and drying (firing).
For the withering stage, plucked leaves are spread out in a thin layer in warm air until moisture content of the leaves has been reduced to about 50–70%. The next step is rolling, where the oxidation process starts. By breaking the leaves’ cells the natural…
