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Processing Tea
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The processing of freshly picked tea leaves into the dried leaves used in Barrys Tea bags is extremely important. Much of the work is done using a tried and trusted combination of hands, nature and machinery. It is a simple, step-by-step process which will eventually determine the characteristics of the finished product. Taking this into consideration, it becomes even more important to get it absolutely spot-on in order to maintain high standard from one batch to another.

The process from start to finish involves roughly 5 unique stages: hand picking leaves, drying them using the sun, rolling, fermenting and finally sorting. This all results in the tea being either black, green or a semi-green tea, called oolong. These steps are outlined below in simple terms

Hand Picking

Only the freshest, most well developed leaves are picked by hand from the crop. Barrys Tea source most of their tea leaves from the mountain slopes of Kenya in Africa, a nation blessed with favourable weather conditions for growing tea. This climate allows for a year round crop of the finest tea leaves.

Drying

After the leaves have been picked they are then laid out to dry under the hot sun. This part of the tea-making process allows the fresh tea leaves to lose some of their abundant moisture.

Rolling

When the leaves have dried out sufficiently, they are then taken away to be rolled. In some places the procedure of rolling the tea is done entirely by hand, in others it is achieved using the help of machinery. The point of rolling the tea leaves is to get them to release a little more of their inherent juices. This means they can ferment more naturally and realise a fuller taste and body.

Fermenting

This is perhaps the most critical stage in the processing of the tea leaves. After rolling, the tea leaves are placed in a very humid atosphere which allows them to ferment. Then, at just the right time, no sooner and no later, the tea leaves are removed and taken to drying ovens.

Sorting

The freshly picked tea leaves have now reached the final stage in the process. Once they have been dried sufficiently, they are sorted out according to the size of the leaf. Now they can be shipped off to be used to make Barrys Irish Tea!

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