Studies on the “fermentation” of Ceylon tea

FERmENTATION ", as understood in the tea industry, is the process during which "black tea" develops its characteristic aroma and colour of liquor. The development of black tea characteristics may be arrested by steaming freshly gathered tea leaf and this device is employed in making green tea. It. is at once fairly obvious therefore that fermentation is an enzymic process and this has been confirmed by several workers [Gadd, 1932;. The tea bushes in cultivation at present are not anywhere much more than a selection from a,thoroughly heterogeneous collection of accidental hybrids, and the conditions of cultivation are so diverse, ranging from tropical to almost temperate, that we wish to make it clear that we are not attempting to explain ''ERMENTATIONV" OF CEYLON TEA. I.,