A variety of tea colours can be processed, depending on the consumers’ requirements. These include black tea, which is the most common, green tea, silver tea, white tea and brick tea.
All these can be processed in Uganda; however, a lot of emphasis is put on the commonly consumed black and green tea.
Various tea products, including green and white tea, can be manufactured on a small-scale for the local market and it does not matter whether a farmer has a few tea plants.
It can also be processed on a larger commercial level.
Getting quality leaves
Aroma is an important parameter when grading tea. Quality is determined by the amount of young shoot plucked. This is why it is important for tea farmers to take extra care during harvest.
The quality elements of the tea leaves reduce as they grow older.
How to process green tea
It is true, green tea is mainly processed from small-leaved chinary varieties, which are not so common in Uganda.
Processing
Green tea is processed differently from black tea.
A tender shoot of two leaves and a bud are harvested and immersed in boiling water for 20 seconds to stop cell activity.
The leaves are then air-dried, crushed in a motor and sieved to obtain a relatively fine material ready for drinking. Green tea is similar to the composition of the fresh leaf because it does not go through a lot of processing, enhancing its medicinal properties.
Processing white, sliver tea
To process white or silver tea, young unopened leaf buds are harvested and immersed in steamed water for 15 seconds.
The buds are then air-dried, crushed and sieved to obtain a fine material that is consumed by adding it to hot water for drinking.
Other tea uses
Furniture
Moisten a soft rag with bit of strong-brewed, room temperature tea and rub it gently on furniture for a bit of natural colour and shine. Use green tea on light wood and black tea on dark wood.
Mirrors and windows
Place cold brewed tea in a spray bottle and use it to make mirrors and glass sparkle.
Toilets
Throw a few tea bags into the toilet for an hour, then remove and discard them before scrubbing the toilet and flushing down the tea liquid.
Deodorising
Tea leaves are highly absorbent and can attract odour from anything they come in contact with. You should take care to store fresh tea away from items with strong odours.
Fridge
Tea can suck up fridge odours.
Chef’s hands
Rub stinky fish, onion or garlic hands with brewed tea or wet steeped tea leaves to remove odours.
Shoes
Place a dried tea bag inside each shoe to remove bad smell.
Adapted from online sources
