No matter how you make your Yorkshire Tea at home, the journey tea makes to get to your cup is quite something! I have had the opportunity to see in the detail the impressive process tea goes through to give it the characteristics necessary to end up in a Yorkshire Tea bag. After visiting 16 tea factories and working with expert tea makers I have gained first hand insight into what I now know is both a science and an art. Here, I will do my best to share what I've learned so far......

Where the magic begins- two leaves and a bud.

Once in the factory the leaves are sorted to make sure only the best quality is there, and that damaged or old leaf is discarded. The leaves are then spread out in big troughs and left for 'withering'. This is the first and most important part of the process and requires real skill and experience.

There are two stages to withering: first,the 'physical' stage where all surface moisture is removed and second, the 'chemical' stage, where initial breakdown of enzymes take place. Left for too long these enzymes would die and you would be left with flavourless tea. Left for too short a time and you'd have thin tea that doesn't really pack much of a punch. The length of time the leaves must wither depends upon the climatic factors and can last between 12-22 hours. Only when the leaves contain between 65%-68% moisture are they ready for the next stage.

The leaves are rolled and crushed to release the juices that contain crucial enzymes needed in the process. The leaves are then cut 3-4 times and exposed to the air. These juices release chemicals that start the oxidation process, where leaves turn form green to brown. This is another fine balancing act. It is time and temperature dependent so our skilled colleagues must judge on the day whether or not to apply heat and react to the heat of the day. After the leaves have been left to oxidise they then go for drying and are passed through a hot air dryer to extract the remaining moisture and to seal the leaf.

It's a fine art to get all of these factors right to produce quality tea because if you let any of the stages slip, the quality of the tea will be affected.

The result is various shapes and sizes of lovely black tea which is then sorted and packed ready to be sent off to various destinations around the world, not least to us for Yorkshire Tea!

Some of these teas will end up in the Mombasa Tea Auction, where I made my debut yesterday. But that's another story! Will tell you all about it in my next blog.

Bye for now!