STUDY ON EFFECT OF WITHERING RATE AND QUALITY OF MADE TEA at Tea Research Institute- Talawakelle

Abstract

Withering is the one of the basic step in manufacturing process of tea. To obtain good quality tea the withering rate should be maintained at the optimum rate. A study was carried out to find out the effect of withering rate on quality of made tea, at St. Coombs Estate, Talawakelle managed by the Tea Research Institute. Tealeaves were obtained from a three-year-old vegetatively propergated(VP) tea field. Two tea cultivars were selected, DT 1 of high quality and TRI2025 of poor quality. This experiment was carried out to study the affects of withering rate on quality of made tea by applying different hygrometry differences ranges between 4- 8 ° F. Different withering rates were achieved by changing hygrometry differences. 5 0 F, 6 ° F, 7 ° F and 8 ° F are the treatments and 4 ° F considered as control in a Randomized complete block design (RCBD). The time allocated for plucking was from 10.30 a.m to 12.30 p.m with six days plucking interval for each block. The samples were manufactured using miniature tea machinery and the made tea samples chemically evaluated using Robert & Smith method (1962). The level of TF, TR, TF: TR, Total colour and brightness of liquor were determined as quality parameters by this method . The results obtained were significant (P=0.05) for DTI than TRI 2025. The final result showed a significance difference in quality of made tea of DTI cultivar at 5 0 F and of TRI 2025 cultivar at 6 0 F. From this result it can be concluded that to obtain good quality made tea the hygrometry difference should be selected properly. According to this research study there is a direct relationship between withering rate and level of quality parameters.