This October some of the ChariTeas team were lucky enough to visit
Ahmad Teas head office in Chandlers Ford, Southampton. At this time it
is Tea buying season across the world. India and China have the same Tea
growing seasons, there is no Tea produced from November through to
spring, this is when all the essential repairs and maintenance takes
place on the Tea bushes. So this is a very important time of year for
Tea sellers.
Monthly Ahmad Teas tasting team, taste every Tea to ensure the
highest standards of Tea go into our cup, so that taste and quality
stays the same. Every Tea is graded once picked; the higher the number
means the higher the quality Tea. Blenders can mix different grades to
make new blends; English Breakfast Tea is a blend of Ceylon, Assam and
Kenyan Teas.
When you taste Tea like this you must taste the Tea at double the
strength we usually drink, each tea is measured out into 2 grams each,
freshly boiled water is poured over the leaves, left to brew for a few
minutes and to cool enough. Then you simply scoop, slurp then spit! You
take a spoonful of tea then you slurp the tea to the back of your mouth.
Slurping so that your taste buds get the first hit, then you
immediately spit it out in to a spittoon or a spit jug as we used. It
doesn’t feel like the most lady-like thing to do but we are informed
this is how to do it properly!
While
the Tea growing season is finished the work is not, this is the time of
year when Tea growers reflect and evaluate on the past year. There are
many factors that contribute towards a successful season, weather
including climate which will determine the quality of the leaf. Also
buyers, demand, growth and price. Buyers here at Ahmad Tea are involved
with lots of different origins of Tea and therefore have lots of choice.
They have to be very experienced and know the market well in order to
get highest quality and the best price for the Tea leaves. There is
allot of trust, honesty and long standing relationships between buyers,
growers and sellers at Ahmad Tea. It is a huge responsibility growing
Tea and so much unseen hard work is put into the taste we experience at
home.
At ChariTeas Tea room we serve several loose teas, we were given the
opportunity to taste the ones we serve and sell to get to know them
better. Tea tasting is a process that cant be rushed we started with
the strongest ones first so we started with the black ones including
English Breakfast and Ceylon. Blends like Original Green Tea and Jasmine
are tasted last.
Green Teas are left till last as they are the weaker blends and do
not want the others to overpower the taste. The process of Tea tasting
is harder than the tasters make it look. The Tea starts off in the cup
with the water in and then using fine china the tea is strained with
special cups that have small teeth to strain the water out with minimal
tea leaves left. Some of us made quite a mess making the tea and is in
need of much more practice. We had a lovely time learning all the work
that happens behind the scenes with the famous Tea brand and cant wait
to go back to learn more.
No comments:
Post a Comment