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The UK is
the world’s foremost authority on western tea and is among
the trendsetters both in consumption and technology, ably
supported by the UK Tea Council. Bulk tea sourcing for
the UK is into low cost/high volume areas, and will continue
thus. Quality and speciality teas are emerging away from the
mass market and, as a percentage of the whole UK market
value, will grow rapidly. This is also true for the Japanese
market. Quality teas will command a higher margin and
increase overall share to perhaps 15% of the market.
In my study, countries to visit were chosen for extreme
differences in approach to tea cultivation. It is recognised
that tea production is predominantly in low-waged countries
and this usually forms a central plank in the argument
against developing tea in high wage economies. However, in
Australia machinery has been developed to pluck (harvest)
the black tea which now supplies up to 10% of their own
domestic market. In Victoria a Japanese green tea industry
is being developed with direct investment from Japan’s “Ito
En”. This kind of innovation takes account of the whole
scenario and demonstrates possibilities despite labour
costs. Across the world there is a slowly dawning
realisation that much of mass-market tea will eventually be
mechanically harvested; Australia leads in example.
Analysis of tea in countries visited is limited to aspects
possibly relevant to establishing tea in the UK.
7) Tea Processing
Because “black tea” is the mass market product, it is not
considered in detail in this study.
Processing depends on starting with a good leaf. Good tea
cannot be made from a poor leaf – however a good tea can be
ruined by poor processing. The estate or garden establishes
a ‘plucking round’ determined by growth rate; the more
frequent the plucking, the more total area can be covered
each year and continuous processing can be achieved with
corresponding efficiency gains.
The process chart for green and yellow tea is shown below. |
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