Parimal Shah, vice president of MK Jokai Agri Plantation, gave an interesting glimpse of how this beverage is made.

Parimal Shah is often referred to as the largest Assamese orthodox tea manufacturer in India. He joined his family tea business when he was 19 years old. He worked as a tea expert and taster in an internationally renowned tea brokerage company. Today, he is the Vice President of MK Jokai Agri Plantation Sdn Bhd. extract:

Question: Please elaborate on the concept of orthodox tea.

Orthodox tea comes from the same tea tree species (called camellia), and all other types of tea can be obtained from it. The five main types of tea popular in the world are black tea, green tea, white tea, Pu-erh tea and oolong tea.

Orthodox tea is a sub-variant of black tea, green tea and white tea. The leaves of orthodox tea are drunk directly (black, green or white) without boiling with milk. Consumers usually prefer to add a little honey or lemon when drinking orthodox tea.

It is the production process that distinguishes one type of tea from another. For example, in India, we usually eat the CTC (crush, tear and curl) variant of black tea. It is a granular tea that is purchased by consumers across India. The way we enjoy it is to boil the tea with milk, then add spices and vanilla such as cardamom or ginger and some sugar (traditional Indian chai).

On the other hand, orthodox tea is best enjoyed as pure black, green or white tea without milk or sugar. It is possible to brew a cup of orthodox tea with certain herbs. However, a good orthodox tea is very flavorful in itself, and most additives available in Indian kitchens would rather compete with tea for flavor than increase its flavor.

Almost all the West, as well as the Middle East and Gulf countries consume orthodox tea. In terms of global production, Sri Lanka is the largest orthodox black tea producer and exporter, followed by the Indian state of Assam.

Q: What is the global demand for Assam tea?

Assam tea is regarded as the gold standard for tea in many countries. In fact, it is the largest single tea grower in India, accounting for more than 55% of all tea produced in our country.

Assam tea is also the basis of blended teas mainly consumed by the European Union, the United Kingdom, Russia, the Commonwealth of Independent States and the United States. Recently, as Western consumers switch from coffee to tea, the global demand for high-quality Assam tea has risen sharply. Due to its mellow cup and smooth characteristics, a cup of Assam (Orthodox Church or CTC) goes well with all meals, breakfast, lunch and dinner!

Question: In the age of hybridization, how challenging is it to adhere to traditional tea production methods?

Tea planting and production is a combination of science and art. Only when the raw material (tea) is good can the factory make good tea. If the raw materials are not up to standard, and the factory is upgraded and the technology is advanced, no good tea can be made. In other words, it all boils down to good farming methods and discipline.

Until today, the number of mechanisms or automation in the tea industry, especially at the farm level, is still at a very early stage. This is because tea pickers need a lot of human judgment and human experience when picking leaves from bushes, or farmers need a lot of human judgment and human experience when creating tea gardens or fertilizing.

Such practices are not easy to automate because they require highly skilled and specialized labor. Nevertheless, in some areas, field-level mechanization is possible.

However, the more you mechanize the process, the more standardized it will be. Although this is beneficial to the factory, it can be disastrous for the farm due to various factors, such as changing weather and rapid erosion of the surface soil structure.

At the factory level, yes, many tea companies have been able to successfully adopt automated processes, for example, from the wilting tank to the sorting room, the entire process is automated. Mixing or mechanization at the factory level is actually desirable because people need standardized processing systems within the factory.

Q: When you joined the family business at the age of 19, what was your dream? Looking back now, are you realizing these dreams or are you still not realizing them?

The essence of dreams and ambitions is endless! In fact, I was fortunate to have personal guidance from my father and grandfather. When I first joined our family's tea business, I was really not sure how good I would know about this business, but over the years, I have developed a great love for this beverage.

There are really many things that can be done to add value to tea. I am currently focusing on product development, hybrid development, brand promotion, value-added and marketing tea for our business. Over the years, I have realized one thing, really you can never get enough from tea. Every day, there is a new idea that can be created with tea!

Q: What is your opinion on the increasing unemployment of tea pickers in India?

In fact, the tea industry is one of the largest employers in our country. One of the main reasons for the increase in the unemployment rate of tea pickers is the emergence of tea factories. These are basically independent factories and are not obsessed with planting or growing tea.

They just buy tea from small farmers at very low prices, and then use their factories to process the green leaves into tea. Since the quality of their production is very average, these factories are mainly concerned with quantity.

The importance of good farming methods is declining at an alarming rate, which forces small farmers to adopt cost-cutting methods to meet the unreasonably low green leaf costs provided by the purchased leaf factories.

As a result, the importance of tea pickers is decreasing, and since smaller tea gardens cannot compete with the cost of purchased tea factories, many small tea farmers are forced to close. If the government somehow provides a level playing field and raises the price of green leaves so that farmers can survive, this situation can be easily reversed.

Question: Let our readers get a glimpse of the world of tea testing and manufacturing.

The tea making process is very interesting. These stages include picking, withering, rolling or crushing, fermentation, drying, sorting and packaging.

It all started with tea leaves picked from the tea plant. Place the picked leaves in a large withering trough to remove excess water. The factory manager here decided that the percentage of moisture in the tea must be reduced. There are several factors at play here, such as weather, rainfall, terrain, time of year, whether the factory plans to produce CTC or orthodox tea.

If the factory intends to make Orthodox tea, the withered tea leaves are placed in a rolling table, where they are rolled and opened. To make CTC teas, these teas are crushed by Rotorvane machines.

The rolled or crushed leaves are then fermented. Then let them react with oxygen. The fermentation process is very critical because it gives the tea its unique characteristics and taste. An experienced factory manager knows exactly how long he/she should let the tea ferment and under what atmospheric conditions.

Finally, the fermented leaves are dried in large industrial dryers, where these dryers are subjected to high temperatures. The fuel used here is coal or natural gas. The drying process makes the tea black and extends the shelf life of fermented tea.

Then the dry tea is divided into different grades. The grading system of Indian tea is very diverse, especially orthodox. The sorted tea leaves are then packaged and ready to be shipped.

Today's modern factories use a high degree of automation to complete the process.

Q: What strategy do you adopt to keep up with the pace of India and the global market?

I represent the marketing and value-added department of our organization and operate under the leadership of my father (our group chairman). The tea business, especially in terms of sales, is actually about establishing and maintaining relationships. It takes decades to mature. Over the years, the global tea market has matured, and with the development of technology, it has become very transparent.

Q: Where do you think you will be in 10 years?

Our core competitiveness lies in manufacturing high-quality orthodox tea, exporting and branding. We are doing well. We are currently working on several new projects aimed at creating more value for our customers and employees.