THE FUTURE DIRECTION OF TEA PRODUCTION:

A major concern here in the U.K. has to be the level of knowledge that consumers or indeed the general trade has about tea and how it gets to them. Once upon a time tea was part of what people learnt at school in Geography along with coffee and other products that the U.K. had been involved in during the Colonial era as it was called.
One of the basic facts that gets lost in marketing spiel by large companies is the classification of a tea by when it was produced during the year. We are in a dangerous area now where companies borrow ideas and say as little about them on the packet as possible.

The very finest Ceylon teas will be produced at a very specific window of weather such as the Western quality teas in February to the end of March and within that window will be an even smaller window of about one to two weeks when the season is declared a season and the flavours are really concentrating within the leaves.

CLASSIFICATION of TEAS TO MARKET and SEASONALITY:

You can have SINGLE ESTATE teas - They have to come from a single estate but when???
A SINGLE estate can be from that core season period - or just in the window either side which would be the next quality down as long as there is little rain on the estate.
A SINGLE estate STANDARD - These are still single estate but they can contain anything from 8 % to perhaps 20 % of the classic seasonal; leaf but added to it will be 92 % to to 80 % of teas that have experienced rain. The real monsoon leaf is undrinkable so it has to be brought up in quality in line with the buyers purse. If the buyer is prepared to pay a good price the agent will 'BLEND' in leaf from the high season and also from days when there has been light on and off rain.

The thing to be aware of is seeing packets marketed with an estate name on without a reference to it being of seasonal quality production. If you are on a website, they may borrow ideas from other areas such as tea board sites or industry information sites and suggest that their teas are of the highest quality but unless you can detect quality. Obviously PRICE will in the first instance generally define a standard from a seasonal tea. We buy our teas direct, we pack and ship our products direct to here so even though their prices are reasonably high they are as low as we can possibly market them.

WHAT IS QUALITY: This mentioned elsewhere but I have short listed quality signs below :
Amazing clarity, even if the colour is a dark or for a Dimbula a rosy red you can still see the bottom of the cup or even a mug.
Liveleness where the clear liquor without any milk looks as if it could jump out at you as it glistens in the cup
Flavour - Many people are wooried about tasting a flavoury tea, it should have flavour at a level that makes your taste buds expand and stand up. A tea like that will quench your thirst far better than a soft off season tea.
Amazingly you can even train your palate to drink almost any Ceylon seasonal tea without milk just a clear brewed liquor. Just cut down the amount of leaf from one person and one for the pot. I enjoy Brunswick seasonal tea without milk unless it has stood for a long time say 10 minutes or more. I never take the leaf out of the tea pot.
BUYERS BEWARE THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU ARE PURCHASING AND WHEN YOU HAVE BOUGHT IT TREAT IT WELL -GIVE YOURSELF TIME TO BREW IT AND SWILL IT IN THE MOUTH COMPARE IT TO ANOTHER SEASONAL DISTRICT TEA.

FORMS OF PRODUCTION:
Another of our concerns is the future viability of a fascinating industry that my relations were involved in from it’s inception.

We believe that it is vital to keep consumers aware of the vast infrastructure that operates on these estates and which goes to making 'quality' tea. The workers are highly disciplined and skilled to produce teas of this top quality. With the very large expansion into modern type small cut and tear teas, it is likely that ever more mechanisation will be forced upon the estates. In my opinion this will move away from Traditional quality teas which cannot be produced by this method. It is vital that only selected leaves are plucked for Traditional manufacture. It is not an exaggeration to suggest that CTC can a wide range of leaf type from coarse to tender and even weeds that might be picked up in full mechanised cropping.

Again in my opinion mechanisation will lead to the cutting of the resident labour forces and their families. They will then migrate as we have seen in so many countries, to the outskirts of the big cities where they live in often appalling conditions. If the consumer carefully examines the cost of a cup of good quality tea against other popular drinks, I am sure that they will conclude that tea is probably the best value after water. Furthermore that small cost provides the estates with funds not only to make the tea but also to improve the very basic living conditions of thousands of resident families dependent upon your consumption for a secure future. We are certainly mindful of this and discuss sensible approaches to ensuring these skilled people are retained. City life and rising wages beckon. I believe consumers will wish that those who provide them with such a wonderful relaxing and healthy product, should share in better conditions, with improving standards in estate schools and medical care in estate hospitals. Because tea is considered a low cost product by modern consumers, prices to the estates are low. This has led to the formation of Government + Trusts providing loans and funding to promote schemes for worker housing, clean water and other facilities. The fact that those supports are required is a measure of the value that consumers have placed upon tea as a product. I urge consumers to consider the benefits of tea to their daily life. The comfort and perhaps even more important, the health benefits it may bring.

The consumer ultimately controls the level of estate returns. I would also suggest that you demand actual named estate tea for authenticity of source and truly exciting teas. We all know a natural product will vary from year to year but that is part of the excitement of drinking estate teas. We have lost those real flavours over the years.

New field pluckers

It is my opinion that teas which are of exceptional quality and therefore negotiated direct, do not need Fair Trade organisations to police them, adding to bureaucracy. If the estates receive a good return for such teas, as an ex planter I know that estates will always invest in their future viability and the loyalty of their work forces. There is undoubtedly a problem where estates rely upon auction prices. It was only some seven years ago that estates were obtaining only 66 % of their cost of production. We seek to promote this sense of value between consumer to estate and estate to consumer, which includes the labour force. We would certainly not agree with any statement that estate managements seek to under value their workers. Our purchases are negotiated for a special service, with fairness to the estates, our guide. If asked to deal through 'Fair Trade ' organisations we are happy to do so.

We hope that you will enjoy the exceptional quality of these teas, come to expand your palate and as a result come to value tea for all its wonderful properties. We have enjoyed helping to make and promote what I call ‘Real’ tea. Tea that has a single identity of production and the name of its estate proudly printed for all to see. Our brand image will always be the very highest quality possible from authentic sources.

What are GRADES?

Grades are the system by which Traditional teas have been defined since early Chinese tea making. Usually it refers to the look of the leaf. Flowery refers to the presence of unrolled buds (‘Tip’). Pekoe is a term used by the Chinese for leaf, e.g. Broken Orange Pekoe leaf. Unfortunately these are sometimes used as marketing aids these days and can bear little resemblance to the true look of the leaf. Fannings is fairly obvious and means a small particle that can be fanned from the made leaf. All our teas are strictly defined by trade grades.

The ISO have declared that Ceylon teas are the cleanest teas in the world for pesticide residues.

Available grades:

Below we have recommended a brewing time in the last box. This is a guide and should be adjusted to your preference. In hard areas and especially with the larger more delicate liquoring grades. We recommend an extra minute to develop full flavour.

Produces a stronger brew often used in T-Bags & to add to BOP from the same estate or other estates to blend for taste and strength. Some tip (rolled whole bud) is said to be a sign of quality. In fact tip is not a determining factor in quality but a guide. Low country teas are leafy and with tip. High grown teas have little tip.

BOPF and BOP are the largest component of a run and the tea-maker can vary their respective % by the type of rolling. A slightly lighter brew with more character than B.O.P.F.. More intense in flavour than F.B.O.P.  BOP is the most popular grade for straight loose leaf drinking, and blending.

Melfort = Good red colour - Loinorn = Orange brew - Mahagastotte=Light yellowish almost clear.

Approximate outturn = 10 - 15 %. Comes from the early rolling dhools. Concentration on this grade will degrade the quality of the BOP flavour levels in high flavour seasons. Some estates refuse to run FBOP at such times, a problem for marketing.

This grade is often chosen for its appearance, varies from a neat curled grade to a more open larger appearance. Should be well twisted. It gives a slightly more delicate liquor than BOP. High growns will exhibit some redness in Season.

Comes mainly from the BB dhool, Big bulk at the end. Consists of tightly rolled large leaf and long slender stalks. These stalks are, of course, the tender leaf ribs of the selected two leaves and a bud and not the dreaded course leaf stalk.

Another leaf sought after for it’s appearance, often drunk without milk. Some low country teas have surprising taste. Sweet almost honeyed, with some strength of colour. No tip

FOP similar to OP grade. Good liquoring grade, compares favourably to BOP. Should be well twisted and slightly shotty.

The largest grade leaf. It is derived from sappy well withered leaf an is found in most of the dhools, including the last BB dhool ( dhool is the term for leaf extracted over a mesh sieve at the end of each roll, the balance is put back to roll again to produce the 2nd dhool and so on). Considered inferior to BOP for liquor but for green teas is used to make ‘gunpowder’ green type very successfully.

It is not a desirable grade for drinking liquor. It has fair strength and colour for blending with other teas. With disciplined plucking, this grade should not appear.

Dusts No:1 and No:2.  
Name is self explanatory.

Approximate outturn = 3 %. Dust 1 should be a good black colour. Dust 2 is browner. A good dust should be grainy and free from fibre and grit. It gives a thick strong liquoring tea and is used in poorer quality tea bags and blending. Used to compete with CTC for strength and colour, lacking in any real character.

These are ‘TRADITIONAL’ tea GRADES.

The finest teas for drinking are ‘Traditional Loose’ Teas.

What is CTC Leaf:

Very small cut type leaf (C.T.C = Cut, Tear and Curl) is indicative of modern small leaf processed teas, producing strength but with little character. They undoubtedly have a place in blending and are particularly used in standard type tea-bags and where convenience teas are required, vending machines etc. CTC has little scope for grading like Traditional teas but in recent years there has been an attempt to produce a grading system for CTC:

Tea Terms (Trade) and Notes:   

Leaf colour = Tea that has been recently pruned tends to produce a blacker made leaf.

Flakey leaf = Under or over withering - Under or over rolling - insufficient winnowing.

Muddy liquor = Over fermented leaf.

Strength = Tea lacking in strength can be from under rolling

Quality = High grown areas in dry seasons yield teas with astringency or pungency (sharpness). intense flavour levels

On the other hand monsoon teas are weak and flat.

Flavour = Dictionary definition = Indefinable characteristic quality.

Soft teas  = Over fermented, excessive gain in moisture from storage, rainy season teas tend to this.

Greenness of liquor = Hard raw and bitter (not astringent). Can be due to under fermentation. However remember this is different from sought after pungency

There are some teas that have an inherent factor and little can be done about it. Sometimes longer withering, longer rolling, longer fermentation or even high temperature withering can help but they will probably affect quality.

Bold = refers to the leaf and indicates that the leaf is large.

Greyness = Usually indicates leaf that has been excessively handled,                                                 rubbing off the dried liquor sheen produced at firing.

Dry Season teas: These will exhibit typical characteristics:

                e.g. Nuwara Eliya during high, dry season are lighter in liquor colour (almost clear). They are heavy in flavour and the liquor is bright, brisk and clear.

Whilst different districts have different liquor colours or shades of colour. The bright, brisk and clear look of the liquor should apply to any quality tea. A muddy looking tea with a flat taste is indicative of a poorer, rainy season tea, or poor manufacture.

Liquor terms:

Body  = Strong liquor as opposed to thin. As referred to in soup.

Bright = Bright in colour and clear (dry season teas)

Brisk = Lively. Good fermentation and correctly fired.

Coloury  = Sufficient colour to define it as special.

Light = Not to be confused with thin. Many Nuwara Eliyas are pale and light and very flavoury. At very high elevation this can be inherent and very desirable.

Plain = Lacking in the required characteristics. No character.              

FACTORS in the PRODUCTION of FLAVOURY TEAS:

Below is a summary of the different climatic areas and their effect on quality production. To help you interpret the areas physically, please refer to the maps of the island shown in a number of sections including each individual estate page. We have colour coded the estates into different Districts, which also approximately cover climatic changes. It is a complex system within such a small area.

In order to take advantage of this form of production, our negotiations for clients have to be carefully structured to ensure that we can negotiate sensible prices, without entering into the exceptionally high priced periods that pertain during the 'Seasons'. Estates like to have an ordered programme of production.

Client Orders:

In the interests of clients, we would very strongly recommend that any orders for each of the districts are placed with us at least 8 weeks prior to the first month stated in the tables below.

Delivery:

Once the booking has taken place, the weather will dictate the final production date. From the final production date, it will then take a further 8 weeks to have the teas submitted to the Tea Board and the different departments, for tests and final certification, transport to the packing station, packing and shipping to the U.K. or any other International stated port of destination..

Please refer to How to order, for details of minimum shipments for special clients.

Stocks:

We hold a level of stock within the U.K. of our own branded products. These are held in the packings stated for each estate, on the estate pages. However, these are measured against anticipated requirements and therefore because of the complicated and long periods between quality production periods. These stocks can become depleted and unavailable from time to time, with heavy demand. It is vital that we therefore understand each clients possible intentions, to maintain supplies.

For both Kandy and Morawak Korale, we can obtain quality teas during any extended dry period in the year. However Uva is more difficult and dependent upon the quality period, for flavoury tea.

Other quality teas for special requirements:

Clients requiring teas of other qualities and prices e.g. standards all year round for blending and packing need to discuss their specific requirements with us, allowing sufficient time for such discussions and the delivery of any samples that might be needed.

We will always try and help our potential clients and existing clients, if we possibly can.