Decaffeinated Black Tea
Black tea is a wonderful tea that is simply more processed through oxidation than other specialty teas that come from the same tea plant, such as green or white teas. The name of this plant is the Camellia sinensis plant. It produces two types of leaves. The larger leaves are used for making black tea and the smaller leaves for the other types of teas. It is also the larger leaves which are used for making Decaffeinated Black Tea.
Sometimes people make the mistake of thinking that black tea is actually a black color after being brewed. The reality is that brewed black tea is reddish in color. Black tea gets its name from the black color of the leaves. Black tea is unique among other types of teas because it can stay fresh and retain its flavor for several years. Green tea on the other hand only stays fresh for a few months and a year at most. Black tea is the most commonly used tea in Western society.
The way they make decaffeinated black tea is that first the leaves are harvested and taken off the plant. After harvesting the tea is withered. This is done by having air blown over the leaves after they have been placed flatly on a table. After the withering, the tea is separated into two different categories. The lower quality leaves are put into one area and the higher quality leaves in another. The lower quality leaves are then crushed. These crushed leaves are the leaves found in most teas that are packaged in tea bags. Whereas the higher quality teas are packaged and sold as loose leaf teas.
Once the teas are separated then each type of tea is oxidized or fermented. The fact that the oxidation process is sometimes referred to as fermenting can be confusing because tea is not actually fermented. But the term is oftentimes mistakenly used when the more proper term of oxidation would be more accurate. The extent to which the tea is oxidized is dependent upon the way that specific batch of tea is destined to be sold. Different teas are oxidized for different amounts of time.
Decaffeinated black tea is subjected to the decaffeination process before oxidation. The tea is subjected to a procedure called the CO2 process. During this process machinery strips the leaves of the caffeine content by subjecting them to intense pressurized CO2. It is a complicated process but it is very gentle on the leaves and allows the flavor to be retained while stripping them of caffeine.
After all of this processing, the tea is then sorted into different grades or quality levels. Each tea is then packaged and shipped to the consumer to be brewed and enjoyed.
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