From plant to cup – Page 30

Discovering Burmese teas

11 January 2013

South of the beautiful Lake Innlay, so often shrouded in mist, is one of the two mountains on which the Burmese grow tea. Around Pingluang, more specifically, about 30 kilometres south of the famous lake. This is in Shan State, and it is this beautiful region
I have chosen as the destination for my first journey of the year. Myanmar is changing and is opening up to the rest of the world, and it is time to find out what kind of teas they make in this country.

Magnificent Sri Lankan landscape

28 December 2012

For those lucky enough to visit the beautiful country of Sri Lanka, this is the type of landscape found around the Sinharaja reserve in the south of the island.
This is the region where the low-grown teas are found, including the most famous, New Vithanakande.

A winter harvest in Sri Lanka

21 December 2012

The low sun illuminates these bags filled with freshly plucked tea leaves, creating a contrasting effect of light and shadow. The men work quickly, emptying the bags and spreading the leaves out on withering trays, so that there is no risk of them fermenting.
In some regions of Sri Lanka, tea is harvested at this time of year.

Taking a break on the tea plantations

18 December 2012

On the tea plantations, the midday meal is a proper break.
Here, in Darjeeling, everyone gets their food out from their bag and sits down to eat, outdoors and in good spirits. The recycled cola bottles contain… tea!

During the oxidation stage, experience is everything

11 December 2012

During the oxidation process the tea leaves change colour, from green to brown. This only applies to black teas, of course.
Experience is everything when it comes to knowing when to end this stage. The factory manager must assess the colour of the leaves and their aroma, to decide if the tea has oxidised enough and it is time to dry it.

Green particles in black tea

30 November 2012

Sometimes you find green particles in black tea that are not the pale-green buds that often accompany a fine pluck.
The particles I’m talking about here come either from the rolling process, if the leaves get slightly broken, or when leaves that are a bit too big are put through a machine like this one, to make them smaller. Note the serious expression of this worker, who appears to blend in with her machine.

The Dhauladhar Mountains

23 November 2012

The tea plantations in the Kangra region are dominated by a beautiful mountain range, the Dhauladhar. Its highest peak is 5,000 metres and it has cold winters that I don’t find unpleasant. This improves the quality of the spring harvest.

Trip to Himachal Pradesh (India)

9 November 2012

I’m on my way to Dharamsala, Palampur and Baijnath, three towns in Himachal Pradesh (India). I haven’t visited this tea-producing region, near Kashmir, for 12 years.
The plantations in this region date back to the British colonial era; they are the same age as those of Darjeeling. In 1905, a terrible earthquake saw the settlers flee, but the plantations still exist.
The soil is as good as it is in Darjeeling, and the climate suits the tea plant, so it is time to see if the quality has improved in those parts, and whether we may at last one day taste fine teas from the region.

Darjeeling: the dream and the reality

6 November 2012

This is a rather idyllic view of Darjeeling: a charming town with plenty of green space, spread out among the tea plantations in the Himalayan foothills.
The reality is more complex: the city has more than 100,000 inhabitants and spreads out much further than can be seen here. The roads are crumbling, all the city’s water has to be trucked in, and the traffic increases every year, making it very congested.

Tea Oxidation

26 October 2012

Oxidation is an important stage in the process of making black tea.
It is not very easy to photograph as it consists of spreading out the tea on sheets in a fairly warm and humid atmosphere, then simply waiting for time to pass.