Tea Manufacture
All tea comes from the leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant. The basic process of tea manufacture involves: Plucking, Withering (allowing the leaves to wilt and soften), Rolling (to shape the leaves and wring out the juices), Fermentation /Oxidizing (enzymes in the tea leaf interact with oxygen), Firing (Drying) Sorting, classifying and packing Step 1. Plucking: The leaves are harvested by hand, usually ranging between just the unopened bud to the top three leaves and the bud, depending on the tea being created. In order to make hand plucking possible, the tea “trees” are pruned into waist-high bushes. After plucking, the leaves are sorted for uniformity and any stems, twigs, broken leaves, etc. are removed. Step 2. Withering: The leaves are laid out...
Introducing Sri-Lanka
Empires Children is set in Sri-Lanka. Let’s begin by getting to know the country: SRI LANKA is an island in the Indian Ocean off the southeast tip of India, Sri Lanka is about the size of Tasmania. Most of the land is flat with mountains in the south-central region rising to over 2,438 metres. It is often described as a tropical paradise. The vegetation of the coastal belt is lush and dramatic, and the mountainous areas of the interior covered with green tea bushes are spectacular. Pleasant sea breezes temper the coast’s tropical climate through most of the year; the hills and mountains in the island’s centre are cool at night. Arab traders of long ago knew the island as Serendib, which is the origin of the word serendipity, reflecting the...