GALPADITENNE Tea Factory Visit

GALPADITENNE Tea Factory Visit

Hello! We are six volunteers in Inzpire 12.0 Project for AIESEC in Sri Lanka. In this project, we are visiting several companies. Thanks to this opportunity, we had the chance to visit GALPADITENNE tea factory and observe the whole manufacturing process.

For a tea branch, the upper leaves are prepared for exportation and the lower ones come into the local market. Though their qualities have been set at the beginning, both of them are manufactured with the same process.
To get the different kinds of products eventually, there are four main stages for the leaves. Using the material handling monorail system through automated tea rollers which achieves precise quality while maintaining hygienic conditions during all production processes.

First step is withering where they reduce the moisture content to prepare it for the further process and to allow for the development of the aroma and flavor compounds in the leaves. Through a channel, wrinkled tea moves downstairs to the fermenting stage.

Without human intervention, tea is fed into fermenting machines gradually. In this session, the color of leaves will gradually turn from green to brown. After squeezed by huge rollers, the leaves are first heated then exposed to air to trigger the fermentation process. The green leaves are oxidized fully after one hour and a half. This reaction causes the leaves to turn dark brown and allows the flavors to heighten and intensify.

Then, cooled leaves are sent to the sifting room by conveyors. Crisscrossed trajectories led to several boxes which labeled as different kinds of tea. The heavier in bigger size drop out first. They are served to be the night tea with the most light flavor. The medium are matched with honey and lemon to be decent afternoon tea. While the smallest are morning tea, prepared for refreshing morning like coffee.   

Finally, the state-of-the-art fully automated packing machines make tea accurately weighing it into each paper bag. Through the labels printed on the bags, OP, BOP, Dust, FBOP, to name just four, we can tell their difference in shape of end products and original parts in tea tree. Take FOP as an example. Its full name is flowery orange pekoe, which is produced by the rare top tip of tea tree. Rose tea only use it as one of ingredients.

Last week, we also visited another tea factory in Elle. The tea trees on the high mountain storage more strong flavor than those here, on Bathnapura as a medium region. Representatives of international trading companies come to Sri Lanka to taste the tea twice a week on Tuesday and Wednesday respectively to get the best quality and participate in an auction.

The trip was so impressive the way that it wasn’t only about learning the procedures of tea manufacturing and trading in Sri Lanka but also how to appreciate a cup of tea. As one of the symbols of Sri Lanka in the international stage, the tea industry is the mirror of the labor and wisdom of people here as well!