We select teas from producers who are skilled and quality-conscious, and who practice traditional methods for processing the freshly picked leaf into finished tea.

Black Teas
Plucking starts early in the day, and by noon the pluckers begin returning from the fields to the factory. The freshly plucked leaves are spread out on racks, where much of the leaf's water content is evaporated over the next 8 to 24 hours, in a step known as withering. When the leaves have become soft and pliable, they are ready for rolling.

From the withering racks the soft, green leaf passes to rolling machinery where it is twisted and rolled to break up the leaf cells and liberate the enzymes that will develop the tea's flavor. Varying degrees of pressure are used between rotating brass plates, so as to fully twist the leaf without creating too much damaging heat.

The rolled leaf is then moved to the oxidation table for between two and three hours. Here, upon exposure to air, the newly released juices oxidize, causing the leaves to turn black. This step - traditionally but imprecisely called "fermentation" - gives black tea its characteristic flavor as well as its color.

At the point at which the leaves have reached the optimal oxidation level (according to the style of black tea that is being attempted), the leaves are ready for firing. The fully "fermented" leaf is placed in a thin layer on a moving belt that winds its way through the drying chamber in approximately twenty minutes. At the end of this, the leaf's moisture content should be about 2%, and in the absence of significant moisture the oxidation comes to a halt.

Though nearly done, the tea is not ready to be drunk until it has been graded for size. The rolling process creates leaf particles of all sizes, which need to be separated into consistent sizes for better infusion and flavor. The dried leaf is sent through a series of mechanically shaken sieves, until it is separated into whole leaf, broken leaf, and fannings grades.

Green Teas
Unlike black tea, fresh plucked leaf destined for green tea is not first slowly withered, but goes directly into a de-enzyming stage. There are two basic methods to accomplish this: dry heat and steam. In China, the leaves are typically stirred in a hot metal pan, or in a tumbling heated drum. In Japan, the leaves are typically placed in a rotating cylinder filled with steam. In either case, the process lasts less than a minute, and results in two developments: all enzymatic reactions within the leaf cells are prevented, and it renders the leaf flaccid and pliable for rolling.

With the enzymes neutralized, rolling can proceed without developing black tea color and flavor. For many types of green tea, rolling is accomplished using the same type of machinery as is used with black tea, although with less pressure applied. For many of the finest green teas, rolling is done entirely by hand as an extension of the initial pan-heating, and can result in flat-leaf green teas, ball shapes, curled shapes, etc. The resulting shape is a part of the visual appreciation of the tea, and the methods used to achieve that shape in large part determine flavor.

The leaf is then fired. This can be done in a conventional drier, or the leaf can be pan-fired until fully dry. Finally the leaf is graded according to leaf size. Green teas tend to yield only a small amount of broken leaf and fannings grades.

Oolong Teas
Oolongs are the most time-consuming and difficult teas to produce, although they can be understood most easily by viewing them as a halfway step between green and black tea. First, the leaves are withered, but for a shorter time than for black tea - typically about eight hours.

Then the leaves go through a series of repeated light rollings, partial oxidation, and gentle firings. The leaves are rolled gently by tumbling in bamboo baskets, or rolled in large sacks, or by hand pressure; this results in a bruising of the outside of the leaf, which initiates partial oxidation. After a short period the leaves are given a brief firing to partially reduce the moisture content. This proceeds in a repeating series of stages until the tea is ready for a final firing.

Interestingly, the plucking standard for oolong tea is usually three leaves and a bud. This accounts for the appearance of large, whole leaves even in the highest quality oolongs.