The tea industry has been experiencing a phenomenal growth in respect of agro techniques right from selection of plant material till harvesting of leaves.
TEA CULTIVATION IMPROVED:
The tea plantations enjoy the benefits of research and development carried out by various Government and non Government organizations, leading to modern cultivation practices, plant protection measures and agro techniques resulting in high yields. The post harvest technology leading to the manufacture of marketable processed teas has also grown considerably.
TEA PROCESSING IMPROVED:
Thus our technological competence in this field of cultivation and manufacturing of quality tea could never be questioned. We should be proud to be so, as we accept and follow all the old and new technologies, having strong scientific base, having proof of results, by experiments and experiences, all leading to revolutionary success in tea plantations. We trust and honor the scientific facts and advocate them suitably to benefit the industry.
NO SCIENCE IN EVALUATION:
When we come to the trading part of the processed teas, do we adopt any scientific methods to identify or evaluate the teas? Yes. To a certain extent it is practiced, with all the reluctance. We do not follow any definite scientific systems of testing and tasting to have greater accuracy in evaluation of tea. The tea tasters play a vital role in the trade. Despite so much research and progress made, the scientific evaluation of tea samples have still remained a far cry.
TEA TASTING AN OUT DATED SECRET:
Tea tasting has been treated as an art and kept as a secret, even now at the beginning of this 21st century. These tea tasters may broadly agree on the merits or demerits of the sample of a tea; but there is difference of opinion between them on the same sample of tea. There are instances to show that the same sample of tea had been valued differently when labels are changed.
HUMAN ERROR RULES:
The very same tea sample valued high once and low next, by the very same tea taster. This is quite natural because tea tasters are human beings and not automations, they could not overcome the extraneous influences.
REPUTATION SPEAKS:
The tea tasters are not unbiased and the results and valuations always favor the tea produced in estates which have already built up a reputation for quality teas. The other estates even when they produce high quality teas are ranked below and the prices are also indicative of their reputation.
TEA TASTER’S MERCY:
Hence, the judgment of valuation on a processed tea still remains at the mercy of the Tea Taster. How ever some tea companies take special efforts to cultivate teas, process them with focus on quality and blend and bring about high quality teas.
These packed teas are special in color, taste and flavor and satisfy the tea loving people all over the world.
