How is homegrown tea processed?

Making your homegrown tea is a process that changes the fresh leaves into highly aromatic teas. For my first batch of tea to be successful, I had to be mindful of the timing, and I picked the leaves in the early morning (ideally before 9 am), I wilted them in the shade for 8 hours. Oxidation levels are the main factor in the determination of tea; [0% = green tea, 30-70% = oolong tea, and 100% = black tea]. I learned to use bamboo trays for drying the tea, they allow for good airflow and scent while drying.

Local variations of methods occur, for example, while Japanese growers are steaming the leaves to produce sencha, Chinese producers pan-fire the tea to create dragon well . I learned from my mentor in Taiwan to oxidize oolong leaves in woven baskets, flipping the leaves every hour. When dry, store the tea in glass jars with silica packets; my tea from 2022 maintains its flavor after more than 18 months since its production.

Three years (of experimentation) helped to refine the method that I used. A batch I made in 2021 was compromised; since then, I have learned to never skip the wilting process because unevenly dried leaves often create musty flavors. I now use (the) hygrometers to calculate fermentation times and document air, leaf humidity, and temperature changes for each batch for consistency.

Read the full article: How to Grow Tea at Home Successfully