A Spot of Tea?

Have you ever thought of what goes into making tea?  I hadn't.  

Apparently, the weather of the highlands of Papua New Guinea are perfect for growing tea.  So, many tea making companies come and set up tea plantations.  We got to tour one of these plantations recently...and now I see tea in a whole new light.  

This is the tea harvesting machine.  I want one to cruise around in!

Then they empty the leaves and take them to the factory.  We couldn't take pictures inside...BUT I can tell you about the secret tea making process.

Step 1: Dry the leaves by putting them on giant air hockey tables

Step 2: Grind the leaves into teeny pieces.

Step 3: Ferment the ground leaves.  (Yeah, did you know they ferment tea leaves?  I didn't.)

Step 4: Sift the leaves

Step 5:  I'm a bit fuzzy on this step...I think they did something to the leaves with fire but I wasn't paying attention to the explanation.  (I was distracted by a GIANT furnace...the kind I imagine they put Shad, Rack, and Benny in.)

Step 6: Sift the ground cooked leaves.

Step 7: Sift again.

Step 8 Sift one more time.

Step 9: Put the tea in huge bags

Step 10: Stack the bags in dangerously tall piles.

Step 11: Sell giant bags of delicious tea.