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What is tea?
Apart from water, tea is the most popular drink in the world, and it is a natural product that people have drunk for centuries.
Types of tea
Black Tea
Black tea is produced from the leaves of the tea plant, Camellia Sinensis. For black tea, the tea leaves are processed as a result of which oxidation can take place and black tea is produced. Black tea is the most popular type of tea in the world. In addition, it also forms the basis for many other tea blends, such as our fruit teas Pickwick Strawberry and Pickwick Forest fruit. Black tea is also the basis for Earl Grey tea.
Green Tea
Green tea comes from the same tea plant - Camellia Sinensis – as black tea but after plucking the leaves are dried, so that they keep their original green colour and taste. A lot of green tea is produced in Asia and therefore it is also a particularly popular type of tea there.
Rooibos
Rooibos is a plant which grows naturally in the region of Cederberg in South Africa. Rooibos does not come from the tea plant and is therefore not actually a type of tea. The needles from the plant are picked, stamped and placed in the sun for oxidation. During the last phase, the rooibos gains its red-brown colour. Unlike other types of tea, rooibos does not contain any caffeine.
The beginning of tea
Tea is grown in plantations, often located on a hillside. The higher the
location of the plantation, the better the quality of the tea. The tea
leaves grow slower there which improves the quality. It takes about four
years before a tea plant is mature or ready for plucking.
Processing tea
After harvesting, the tea leaves are taken in large bags to the factory
on the plantation. The methods of processing the tea vary per region,
but the process always consists of four basic elements: withering,
rolling, fermenting and drying. The tea is then sorted and packed. This
processing of the tea always takes place in the country of origin.
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 1 - Withering
During withering, the leaves lose 40 - 50% of their liquid. |
 2 - Rolling
The tea leaves are then rolled for about half an hour between two horizontal abrasive surfaces. |
 3 - Fermenting
During fermentation, air at a temperature of 25°C is blown through the tea with a humidity level of 95%. |
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 4 - Drying
By drying the leaves, the oxidation process is stopped. |
 5 - Sorting
After drying, the tea is sorted according to the coarseness. |
 6 - Packing and transporting
The tea is well packed to protect it from outside influences during transportation. |
Blending
There are many factors which influence the taste of the natural
product tea, for example the country of origin, the period when the tea
is plucked, and the weather conditions to which the tea plant has been
exposed. To ensure that Pickwick tea has a consistent flavour and
quality, after harvesting and processing, our blender assesses the tea.
He selects the types of tea and mixes them into blends of which the
flavour and the character meet the guidelines of Pickwick. In order to
produce a consistent end product, a blender mixes as many as 20 to 30
different types of tea.
The blend can be immediately packed in the packing department, but
can also serve as a basis for flavoured tea. Examples of flavoured teas
are Pickwick Forest fruit and Pickwick Green Tea Lemon. For these
blends, the tea is mixed with pieces of fruit and natural aromas. Mixing
herb blends, to which no tea is added, takes place in the same blending
installation as for blending flavoured teas. After mixing, the
flavoured teas and herbal teas, as applies to the other blends, are
packed in teabags in the packing department.
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