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By Nelson Mandela Muhoozi
The tips below were shared by East African Community (EAC) tea traders during an engagement organised by the East African Tea Trade Association recently at Africana Hotel in Kampala.
- Educate farmers on good husbandry to take care of tea bushes
- Pluck within the plucking cycle before overgrowth- within 14 days
- Set quality parameters for green leaf standard
- Two leaves & a bud have 85% of the desired characteristics in tea
- Maintain fine plucking standards, two leaves & a bud
- The chemicals in lower leaves dilute the liquor
- Enforce the policy of good leaf to attain a good final product
Plucking green leaf
- Fine plucking leads to desired cup wholeness, full aroma, briskness, and flavour. These characters are responsible for good cup quality
- Fine plucking yields more due to shorter plucking rounds
- Avoid coarse plucking. It compromises quality
- It leads to open-leaf, low-density and overwork machines hence raising costs
Withering and fermentation parameters
- Set optimal parameters for withering and fermentation
- Good withers lead to brighter and brisk liquors – the most desired
- Fermentation under optimal temperature and aeration controls lead to the desired characteristics recognized by tea tasters – Price
Leaf appearance
- The manufactured leaf must be clean and free from fiber and stalk (these make the leaf to be brownish-undesirable trait)
- Clean leaf free from stalk and fiber earns better price
- Leaf size should be uniform and true to the grade i.e. BP1, PF1, PD and D1 without any mixing
The tips were shared by East African Community (EAC) tea traders during an engagement organised by the East African Tea Trade Association recently at Africana Hotel in Kampala recently.
