Before I continue my story, I feel I should give a snapshot of the Tea Industry to give some context to the overall story. India is the largest grower of conventional Black Tea in the world and produces more than 1200 million kilograms annually. This is very roughly broken up into 1000 m.kg, from North India (Assam + Bengal) and 200 m.kg. in South India (Tamil Nadu + Kerala).

Of this almost 1000 m. kg is consumed in India itself. I get a kick telling my overseas friends that India drinks 2.74 million kilograms of tea – a day! You can roughly get about 300 cups of tea out of every kilo – which means Indians drink 822 million cups per day. But then we are a big country!

Tea is largely sold through Auctions. There is an attempt by some quality conscious Producers to sell directly to packers and retailers in the hope of getting a premium. A substantial premium is not always possible in the auction which is governed by market sentiment, supply and demand, and so on.

But still about half of the Tea produced is sold through the Auctions. And J. Thomas & Co account for about 30% of that volume! The production figures I gave earlier were for 2016-17.  In the 60’s the production was much lower as was the price, but JT has always maintained a pre-eminent position in this business.

Tea leaves are harvested in a cyclical rotation of around 10 days (broadly speaking) and manufactured in Factories. The manufacturing process largely falls into 2 varieties – Orthodox and CTC. The first method is the conventional way of rolling and twisting, while CTC stands for Cutting, Tearing, and Curling.  The leaf is so treated that the juice expressed coats the leaf and a process of oxidisation begins. We then ‘dry’ the leaf at a high temperature (220-degree F) to arrest the oxidisation process and bring down the moisture to 3 percent at which stage the Tea will become stable. But Tea is hygroscopic and so there is need to hurry with the grading process. I have added some pictures, which are not great but I hope you will get a mental picture of what I am talking about. 

What you see on packets as Orange Pekoe (OP), Broken Orange Pekoe (BOP), Broken Orange Pekoe Fanning (BOPF), and Dust is really tea from the same bulk that has been graded through different mesh sizes.

Tea manufacturing is quite a vast subject and I don’t want to go into too much technical detail but suffice it to say that the rule of thumb is that larger the size (OP) the lighter the liquid (termed ‘liquor’ by Tea Tasters) but more flavourful. Therefore, Fanning and Dust will be stronger but at the cost of some flavor. BOPF and Dust are preferred for Tea Bags because some strength (soluble matter) is trapped by the walls of the tea bag. Tea used in bags is not made up of sweepings as some would have you believe!

Of course, there are Green Tea, White Tea etc. The green leaf used is the same as in Orthodox and CTC, but the manufacturing process is slightly different. The production of these teas percentage-wise is not significant compared with Orthodox and CTC, the latter being by far the biggest contributor to India’s Tea production.  

In the old days (pre 70’s) Tea was sent to the London Auctions. A shipment would take a month to reach via the Suez Canal (imagine what it would have been like via the Cape of Good Hope!) and after warehousing, distribution of samples to the buyers the Tea would come up for auction over 3 months after production. So, it was important that the packaging was able to ensure that the Tea remained fresh. Tea was packed in plywood boxes, which were certified to be dry and odorless. These then were lined with aluminum foil, with a layer of ‘butter’ paper touching the tea. We need the Tea to breathe out but not breathe in as it is hygroscopic as I mentioned earlier. If Tea absorbed moisture it would taste ‘soft’ and loose it’s pungency.  Tea also picked up odors quickly and if the packing material wasn’t up to the mark, the Broker on inspection could mark it as ‘chesty’ or ‘cheesy’ or having an ‘oil’ taint.

Bulk Tea packaging has changed over time especially since teas are now sold in the country of origin and does not have to withstand the rigours of a long duration in transport and warehousing, as well as, considerable handling .    

All this may be more than you can digest today. Tomorrow I shall tell you about the role of the Tea Broker. Usually a middleman does not command much respect in most trade but you will see how vital the Tea Broker is to the wholesale marketing of Tea!