This morning we visited the Nayabedde Tea Estate & Factory. The plant was not in operation because of the National Day holiday but we were given a personalized tour by Factory Officer S. Sritharan. It was probably better that the factory wasn't operational because I think it would have been very difficult to hear over the equipment. Photos were not allowed inside the plant so all you get is this not so glamorous building photo. Nayabedde Estate plants 6,000 acres of tea and employs 750 pluckers. The factory can process up to 21,000 kilos of tea per day.
When plucked tea (more about this next post) arrives at the factory it is spread out in large wire troughs to wither for 12 hours. Fans blow air under the troughs to accelerate the drying process. Then it is mechanically sifted to remove large scale debris. Next it is rolled in rotating press machines. The rolled leaves pass through three stages of cutting and then are spread out to ferment for 2 to 4 hours depending on the humidity. When the air is too dry it is made moist by fan-blown misters. After fermentation the tea is put through a dryer to remove the last bit of moisture. The final stages are sifting and packing. Initial sifting is done by a mechanical process which sorts the tea into three gauges - 10, 12 and 16 (yep, just like wire sizes - the bigger the number the smaller the processed tea leaf). Interesting that final sifting; which yields eight separate grades of tea, is done by hand using eye and experience. The tea is packed into aluminum foil lined bags so that the product is protected from moisture during storage and transportation.
Some personal observations: The tea factory was extremely clean. Just like processing facilities do back home, the plant utilized holiday downtime to perform basic maintenance and repairs on their equipment. There are practically no personnel safeguards on the processing equipment. A factory worker must be aware at all times - the rollers, cutters, and sifters could easily maim or kill.
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