Tea production is an important part of many Asian countries’ exports and a large part of their culture. How the tea is manufactured is crucial for its taste and quality. How tea is made also varies depending on whether you want to produce white, green, oolong, or black tea.
The tea’s process from tea leaf to ready-to-drink loose tea
Tea production
A brief description of the processing for the true tea types is as follows:
| Process for freshly plucked tea leaves | White tea | Green tea | Oolong tea | Black tea |
| 1) Removal of foreign objects | x | x | x | x |
| 2) Steaming | x | – | – | – |
| 3) Drying of the tea leaves | x | x | x | x |
| 4) Steaming / Roasting | – | x | – | – |
| 5) Rolling | – | – | x | x |
| 6) Drying of the tea leaves | – | x | – | – |
| 7) Fermentation / Oxidation | – | – | x (short time) | x |
| 8) Brief roasting | – | – | x | – |
| 9) Roasting | – | – | – | x |