All teas come from the tea plant Camellia and the different growing regions, farming techniques and blending methods create the many varied flavors of tea available today.

There are two main strains of tea plant (otherwise known as tea bush) that are used in tea production, each with its own particular characteristics:

Camellia sinensis
Most associated with China, Tibet and Japan, this plant grows between 3 and 5 metres tall and its leaves grow to about 5 centimeters in length.

Camellia assamica
Most associated with North East India, this plant grows between 14 and 18 metres tall and its leaves grow to about 15 to 40 centimetres in length. The Camellia assamica prefers warmer climates than its Chinese cousin.

There are also numerous hybrids that have been created from these two species of tea plant. These newer species suit different climate conditions and produce different flavours.

From the Camellia bush to your cup, the following will give you idea of how tea is produced.

Growing Tea

Tea mainly grows between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn, requiring up to 1250mm of rain per year, as well as a temperature between 10 to 30 degrees centigrade. Tea will grow from sea level up to 2400 metres. Because a tea's flavour is so dependent on where and how it's grown, great care and attention is taken to ensure that the best possible growing conditions are created. This means, in some cases, planting trees to generate shade that will protect the tea plants, or planting wind breaks to prevent damage from strong winds. This is especially true of the exposed plains of Assam. The tea plants (or bushes) themselves are placed in rows approximately one metre apart in an area known as a 'tea garden'. The bushes must be pruned every four to five years in order to keep them rejuvenated and at a convenient height for the 'pluckers' to reach the tea leaves. This is known as the "Plucking Table". A tea bush will easily produce good tea for 50-70 years, but after 50 years the plants' yield will reduce. At this time, the older bushes will be considered for replacement by younger plants grown on the estate's nursery.

Plucking Tea.

Plucking rounds depend on the specific climate and growing conditions of the area. New shoots can be plucked at 7-12 day intervals during the growing season. Tea harvesting is both exhaustive and labour-intensive. Between two and three thousand tea leaves are needed to produce just a kilo of unprocessed tea. Plucking is also a procedure of considerable skill. Tea pluckers learn to recognise the exact moment at which the flush should be removed, thus ensuring that the most tender leaves are plucked to produce the finest teas. After plucking, leaves are transported to factories for processing. In the interest of freshness, these factories are normally located very close to the tea fields. The whole process of plucking to packing takes only 24 hours, so the teas really are as fresh as possible.

Manufacturing tea.

Once the tender leaves have been plucked from the tea bush, they can be made into black tea, Oolong or red tea, or green tea. These types of tea result primarily from differences in the process of oxidation.

There are two methods of manufacturing tea - 'orthodox' used to make loose teas and 'CTC' or 'Cut, Tear & Curl' used to make bag teas. At Twinings, the quality of the tea is the same whether in loose or tea bag format. In fact, our Lady Grey teabags are renowned for the fact that experts can't taste the difference between them and the loose tea blend. Read more about tea manufacturing here.

Packing.

No matter what type of tea has been created, 'sorting', or 'grading', is the final stage in the tea manufacture process and one of the most crucial. Here, the leaves are sifted into different sizes or 'grades', then classified according to appearance and type. When a sufficient amount of each grade has been sorted, it is packed, either into foil lined paper sacks or tea chests. Whilst both containers provide a moisture barrier and keep the tea dry, chests provide an extra degree of protection against the leaves being damaged in transit and are perfect for larger leaves.

Auctions.

Twinings tastes and grades tea from all over the world via highly specialized auctions. The major tea auction centres are in Calcutta, India; Mombasa, Kenya; Colombo, Sri Lanka and Jakarta, Indonesia; each of which holds a weekly auction. Selling brokers catalogue the teas that are coming up for sale and send samples of those teas, called lots, to buyers around the world. Our buyer will taste and grade each lot and place a valuation on the ones that are of interest to Twinings. Each lot is sold separately in the auction, varying from 3 to 5 lots sold per minute, and goes to the highest bidder. Once Twinings' bid has been successful, our buyers make arrangements to have the tea shipped to the UK where it will be blended into one of more than 200 different blends that we sell around the world. Shipping times vary depending on the country of origin; teas bought in Sri Lanka can arrive in the UK three to four weeks after they have been bought, whilst tea coming from Indonesia can take five weeks to arrive.

Blending & Assessment.

Weather, altitude, moisture and soil each contribute to the flavour of tea, as does the season and even the time of day at which the tea is picked. That's why at Twinings, our expert blenders train within the UK and tea producing countries for five years before they are fully qualified to find the finest blends from thousands of different estates from around the world.

When making a blend, our expert tasters select only the finest quality teas to produce the desired look and flavour. Each sample blend is brewed, and undergoes a methodical, 15-step tasting procedure. Like expert wine tasters, Twinings' expert blenders can detect the slightest variation on the standard they seek. From origin to packed product at Twinings factories, each particular tea is tasted 5-7 times along the way to ensure the quality is consistently worthy of the Twinings name.

Treaty.

In addition to auctions, Twinings also buys teas sold privately from brokers or directly by the producers themselves. Samples of the teas are sent to our buyers accompanied by an offer sheet giving details such as garden mark, leaf grade, quantity available and asking price. Our buyer will taste and grade each tea and comment back to the broker/producer if we are interested. Depending on the buyer's view of that tea, the price will be either accepted or more commonly bid on and negotiations begin until an acceptable price for both parties is agreed on. There are still a few trading houses around the world who take a view on the market and buy teas for their own account. Their aim is to make a profit on those teas by selling them at a later date when the market is more expensive. Twinings philosophy is to buy as direct as possible, thus liaising as closely as possible with the producers.

Monitoring.

Twinings, in common with the rest of the food and drinks industry, fully recognises its duty to supply safe, wholesome and nutritious products and is therefore dedicated to minimising the level of pesticide residues in food. We buy on the open market and have no direct control over how the tea is grown. We believe that pesticide residues in tea provide an insignificant contribution to pesticide intake from dietary sources. Nevertheless, we actively monitor our raw materials for pesticide residues and work with all the relevant parties to ensure that, where practical, pesticides are eliminated and where their use is unavoidable that they are used at minimum levels in accord with good agricultural practice and relevant legislation.