One of the steps in the process of going from the tree to your cup
11 February 2010, 09:00While on my travels about the town, I stumbled across a tea factory. There are dozens here, actually, but this one was on the road, and was open. I walked in, the workers didn’t seem to mind. They even let me take lots of pictures of the tea production process. This device takes tea leaves and tumbles them for a long time. I honestly have no idea how tea is produced, nor why they were tumbling them so. Great resources for information can be found online. I found this article on Wikipedia. The neat thing I discovered while in Thailand, though, is that I have a profound taste for Oolong (somewhere between Green Tea and Black Tea in oxidation), a tea not commonly exported, but which is the most popular variety drank in south-east Asia. I got a bag of Oolong from Mrs. Wong’s tea garden, and I can honestly say, that was the best tea I’ve ever had.
~Jonathan