STiR coffee and tea magazine

STiR coffee and tea 51 In April the Halmari Tea Estate in Assam re- ceived a record $10.50 per kilo for 307 kilos of CTC at the Calcutta Auction. The CTC, which was purchased by J. Thomas & Co. Pvt. Ltd. and by the Mahabodhi Tea House, will retail for $15 to $30 per 500-gram packet ($60 per kilo). J. Thomas & Co. chairman and managing director Krishan Katyal called the price "quite a phenomenon" and said that Halmari was in a "dif- ferent realm" now. He praised the tea's unique combination of strength, body, and flavor. "It is just brilliant, and they make some superb first flush teas too," Katyal told The Calcutta Telegraph. The Vigneshwar Estate Tea Factory, a bought- leaf factory that has operated for 30 years in the small town of Aravenu, earned $4.92 a kilo that same month, establishing a new peak for CTC sold in South India. In the Nilgiris, a winter tea from Avataa Tea brought $36.69 per kilo, topping the company's previous record of $31.87 per kilo for an artisan green tea. In December Donyi Polo estate in Arunachal Paradesh sold 2.5 kilos of a widely praised golden needle for $291 per kilo. In private sales artisan processed first-flush Dar- jeeling earns $250 to $400 per kilo with white tea and green teas selling at the upper range. However, most of these teas wholesale for $60 to $200 per kilo. In China, West Lake Long Jing, a comparable tea, wholesales for $260 to $360 per kilo and retails for as much as $870 for 500-grams depending on brand. In Japan, green teas for the domestic mar- ket, auctioned in Kagoshima and Miazaki, averaged $34 per kilo this spring. One extraordinary Japanese green tea from Shizuoka sold for $10,200 per kilo but is only available in very small quantities. A new machine age Raj Barooah, director at Aideobarie Tea Estates in Jorhat, Assam has embraced multi-style produc- tion. His Rujani silver needle introduced in Octo- ber 2016 sold for $5.86/50 grams ($115 per kilo). His bai mu dan bliss assamica sold for $4.65/50 grams ($95 per kilo). Recently he brought to mar- ket two varieties of white tea–silky silver needle and bai mu dan assamica that sell for even more. His small batch specialty teas(including some black teas) routinely sell for $15 per kilo "which is five times better than the auction average for good quality Assam CTC." "This is the future, the roadmap for Assam. There is no point crying over an age-old industry norm and continuing with commodity CTC man- ufacture," he said. "We have to stick our head out, be adventurous and take on the arduous journey of evolution to survive," he said. Aideobarie is a 500-acre farm that employs four tea makers and 700 daily workers. It produc- es about 1 million kilos of CTC and 1,200 kilos of specialty teas (green, white, oolong, and black) from trees that have been planted for 100 years. The oolong room at Aideobarie Tea Estate with a panning and shaping machine, front, and a machine to manufacture pearl tea, rear. Barooah was one of the first to purchase Chinese tea making machines. Here are six that he recommends and why: Intelligent fermentation cabinets – "These have great potential as they provide controlled oxidation even when ambient or natural conditions are not stable. Results are more consistent with black and even oolong tea. How- ever the plucking standards must be rigorous. It works best with a consistent pluck,'' he said Color sorters – "Controlled by the internet of things (IoT) these provide real-time sorting without any professional staff. They are equipped with a cloud-calibrated camera with infrared technology that eliminates stone, glass, and insects." Pneumatic kneading (rollers) – "The grooves in the wells of the Chinese rolling machines provide an unbroken whole leaf tea, which is the essence of good quality," he said. Oolong machines – "Oolong is made from large mature leaves. A leaf shaking machine insures consistency. I have purchased one of these with great expectation to reproduce the best of oolongs." Roasting cabinets (upright dryers) – "These are used all over China. I purchased the rotary type and have used it the past four years. It is excellent for small batch tea manufacturing up to 40 or 50 kilos," he said. "It might be well to point out that 20 years ago Chinese small-scale tea machinery was very poorly manufactured," observes Melican. "Teacraft did occasionally import some but we would have to rebuild and repaint them, replace electric motors to European standard, and rewire the equipment to acceptable standards," he said. "Now several Chinese small-scale machinery suppliers are in joint ven- tures with Japanese companies and equipment from these companies is made to very high standards," he said. Some Chinese tea processing equipment manufacturers Anxi Yongxing Machinery (1992), Quanzhou, Anxi, Fujian www.yongxingjixie.com Fujian Jiayou Tea Machinery Intelligent Technology (xxxx) Chengxiang, Anxi, Fujian www.hktdc.com Xiamen Sengong (Gemini) Manufacturing (1998), Xiamen www.nwbzj.com/ Zhejiang Kawasaki Tea Machinery Co. (1990), Hangzhou, Zhejiang www.facebook.com/zjkawasaki/ Zhufeng Machinery Co., Ltd (2003), Quzhou, Zhejiang http://zjzfcj.com/ Photo courtesy Fujian Jiayou Tea Machinery Intelligent Technology Co.

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