India is known for its cultural diversity, religious amalgamation and thousands of different languages and various foods but one thing which is beyond culture and religion is the love which we all share towards “Tea”.

Gatoonga Tea Estate in Jorhat, Asom / Assam

After arising in the morning our body really wakes up only after our first cup of Tea.

India is second in the world in terms of tea production. But how many of us have given much thought to where this beloved beverage comes from?

Tea comes from different parts of India. It mainly comes from the north eastern areas of Assam and Darjeeling. Tea is very easily available to all of us but it is a tough task to produce and process it.

In Assam one can see huge tea estates and thousands of labourers busy plucking tea leaves spread all over the estate.

Workers pluck tea leaves from early morning till the evening. The leaves are plucked by hand and women labourers are preferred for the task.

Since the tea leaves are hand plucked the tea bushes are kept only waist high to make the plucking task easier. After plucking, the workers carry the basket full of leaves to the main junction, where the leaves get weighed and are finally ready for the factory.

Once the truck arrives in the factory it is weighed again. Workers carry the bags filled with tea leaves for the next step which is withering. The leaves are then cleaned and laid out to wither overnight. This process is very crucial as it prepares the tea leaves for further processing. During the withering of leaves they are spread and turned for even exposure to the air.

The following day the tea leaves are carried to the crushing segment with the help of hangers.
In this section the leaves are poured in a crusher. Then the leaves are torn and crushed after which they take the shape of small particles. These small particles are then laid on a conveyer belt where the leaves are further cut, the waste is removed and the leaves are then rolled to smoothen them. This process leaves the tea leaves smooth and waste free. Once the tea gets smoothened, it is stored in a container for the next step.

Later, these crushed, cleaned and rolled tea leaves are poured into containers where they are oxidized. The leaves are laid to interact with oxygen for a while. The oxygen reacts with the enzymes of the processed leaves changing its chemical composition. This process gives the tea leaves their reddish brown colour.

After oxidization the processed tea leaves are picked up by the hangers to reach the next segment. This next step is called firing. Here the leaves are dried by heating them at a temperature of 270 degrees Fahrenheit. This is done to bring the moisture content below to 3 percent which stops the further oxidation of the processed leaves.

After this final processing the tea leaves are poured into buckets and weighed. Then the tea is poured on the conveyer belts which carry it to a large one ton container where this processed tea is stored for dispatch later.

Finally, this processed tea is now packed in the tea packets and dispatched for markets worldwide.

This brew which makes our every morning fresh and energized has a long story to tell about its production. This how a mere green leaf is processed and converted into a blended and blissful creation which is an imperative part of our age old tradition.

This footage is part of the professionally-shot broadcast stock footage archive of Wilderness Films India Ltd., the largest collection of HD imagery from South Asia. The collection comprises of 150, 000+ hours of high quality broadcast imagery, mostly shot on HDCAM / SR 1080i High Definition, Alexa, SR, XDCAM and 4K. Write to us for licensing this footage on a broadcast format, for use in your production! We are happy to be commissioned to film for you or else provide you with broadcast crewing and production solutions across South Asia. We pride ourselves in bringing the best of India and South Asia to the world...

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