Tea Processing Equipment
Find innovative production technology for making tea and connect directly with world-leading specialists
Chinese legend has it that tea was created by accident over 2700 years BC. A servant boiled drinking water for his emperor when leaves from the Camellia sinensis tree fell into it – and the emperor decided to taste the drink. While to make tea nowadays on a medium to large-scale you need tea processing equipment like dryers instead of just a tree and wind blowing it, mythology adds a special flavor to the tea industry story.
Stories about tea
Select your tea process
Tell us about your production challenge
Black tea making: what kind of tea processing equipment do you need?
The tea manufacturing process determines what path the Camellia sinensis leaves will take. This tree’s leaves are the base for every type of tea: fermented (black tea), semi-fermented (oolong tea), and non-fermented (green tea). “Fermented”, however, is just the traditional way manufacturers call the process of oxidation, as teas don’t go through any fermentation.
The first step to produce black tea is withering, when producers subject the green tea leaves to wilting, to enhance the flavor compounds and reduce moisture.
Drying machines are the first step in the tea production line process. You use tea withering troughs that blow hot air from fans in order to dry the leaves. This process takes at least 6 hours, but depending on humidity conditions, it may take days. Once it finishes, the leaves go to a rolling machine.
Rolling machines can belong to two categories – orthodox and CTC. The orthodox method counts with rolling machines that roll the leaves 3 to 4 times, bruising them but not tearing them apart. This usually leads to releasing milder leaves of caffeine. The contrary happens to CTC machines. Called Crush Tear Curl or Cut Tear Curl, CTCs cut the leaves into small pieces repeatedly and allow them to oxidate. This releases the natural juices of tea and increases the caffeine concentration in the product.
Green, white, oolong – manufacturing differences between tea types
While black tea is still the most produced type of tea globally, green tea manufacturing is also rising due to the health benefits perceived by consumers. To make green tea, you subject the tea leaf to heat as high temperatures prevent them from oxidating, guaranteeing that their freshness will be preserved. You can do that by dipping the leaves in hot water or using steam; both methods will inactivate the leaves’ enzymes. Once this happens, a cooler helps to prepare the leaves before they go to a rolling machine. Finally, a dryer takes care of the rolled leaves.
China and Japan are two of the main producers of green tea. Chinese producers often pan-fire the tea leaves in large woks and manually roll them. In Japan, the processes often count with automation; some producers use, for example, highly calibrated machine cutters when harvesting the leaves.
Oolong teas are in the middle of the way between green and black teas. They still need withering troughs before going to rolling machines, but their oxidation time is shorter than black teas and they can also be pan-fired to cut the fermentation process.
When making white tea, the process requires fewer steps and machinery. To produce white tea, which is a very lightly oxidated tea type, you use the buds of very young plants, which are very delicate and cannot be damaged – otherwise, they oxidate. This makes the raw material rare and the process, more expensive. White tea is the less processed type of tea there is, so in this tea production you only need a sorter and a dryer.
How will you serve your tea? Packaging solutions and their characteristics
There are a number of tea packaging solutions depending on which type of product is coming out of your tea factory. If we’re talking about dried leaves, you have the option to combine them with flowers and herbs and pack them in pouches, cans or tea bags.
Pouches use aluminum in their composition, which protects the tea from damage such as oxidation, moisture, and UV light. They can also be made with paper, which is a more eco-friendly material but also lasts for less time. When it comes to teabags, every available shape influences the efficiency of the infusion. Flat, round-shaped, and pyramid tea bags compete in the market to bring both distinctive brand characteristics for consumers and also more flavor to the tea. A few years ago, UK’s Advertising Standards Authority ruled out that, compared to round teabags, pyramid bags had more space for the tea to move, which would allow it to release more taste.
Still in regard to teabags, producers used to make them with paper, but recent manufacturers tried to differentiate their products with more “premium” designs, using other types of materials. The most common of these was polypropylene. A study from McGill University in Montreal, however, showed that this type of tea bag can release billions of microplastics into people’s cups of tea.
Other than that, if your final product is already liquid, you need different tea processing machinery to pack it in cans or bottles, such as filling, capping and labeling equipment.
Processing steps involved in tea making
Which tea technology do you need?
Automatic case packaging for pods in single bags
In the production of single-serve coffee or tea pods, ensuring efficient ...
Cold aseptic filling system for beverages
Ensuring microbiological sterility in cold aseptic filling lines is essential fo...
High-speed tea bag packaging solution
When managing the packaging of free-flowing products or black tea in high volumes, ma...
Tea bag packaging system for small production runs
In the tea and beverage industry, producing high-quality tea bags effi...
Tea bag packaging solution for single-chamber bags
In the tea and herbs industry, maintaining product freshness and optim...
Tea bag packaging system for long-leaf and premium tea
When dealing with long-leaf tea and premium tea, maintaining the i...
High-speed heatsealed tea bag packaging
In the tea industry, the need to efficiently produce high volumes of tea bags is cr...
Heatsealable double-chamber tea bag packaging system
In large-scale tea production, efficiency and consistency in packagi...
High-speed tea bag knot packaging line
In tea and herb packaging operations, maintaining high efficiency with precise produ...
Linear weigher for dry or frozen free-flowing products
Handling delicate and low target weight products like candy, snack...
Aseptic filling system for bag-in-box packaging
In the food and beverage industry, maintaining product sterility during fi...
Precision weigh filler for food and pharma industries
In the food and pharmaceutical industries, accurate ingredient dosi...
Flash pasteurizer for beverage production
In the beverage industry, ensuring product safety and longevity while maintainin...
Premix system for carbonated beverages
In the production of carbonated beverages, ensuring precise CO2 levels and consisten...
Mixer-pasteurizer-carbonator for soft drinks and juices
In the beverage industry, producing different types of drinks suc...
Aseptic cooking and filling line with two reactors
When processing industrial broths, vegetable creams, or convenience fo...
Plate type pasteurizer for juice and tea drinks
Ensuring the safety and shelf-life of juice and tea drinks requires effect...
8000bph fruit juice filling system
In the beverage production industry, maintaining efficiency and accuracy in the hot fill...
Single chamber tea bag packer with sealed filter paper
In high-volume tea production, ensuring the consistent and efficie...
Beverage thermal treatment systems
When producing beverages, maintaining chemical, physical, and microbiological stability ...
Automated valve manifolds for clean-in-place solutions
In industries like dairy, beverages, and pharmaceuticals, maintain...
Tube-in-shell heat exchanger for low viscosity products
When processing low viscosity products like dairy or fruit juices...
Industrial sifters for beverage processing
In beverage production, maintaining product quality and consistency is crucial....
Automatic rotary premade pouch filler and sealer
In high-volume production environments, the need for efficient and compac...
Single-pass tea extraction system
In the ready-to-drink (RTD) tea industry, ensuring consistent extraction while maintainin...
Single-pass extraction system for tea
In the production of ready-to-drink (RTD) tea, maintaining high-quality taste and con...
Direct drive centrifuges for dairy and beverage processing
High-volume dairy and beverage processing often requires effi...
Semi-continuous freeze dryer with easy-loading
Freeze-drying is both a time- and energy-consuming process. In addition to ...
Agitator bead mill for functional foods and flavors
Fine-grinding solid flavors to improve taste properties and integrati...
Gentle mixer for tea blending
The blending process is critical to the flavor quality of tea. But the physical impact of the ...
Semi-manual can sealer
When starting out in the canned product business, you do not necessary want to invest in industrial sc...
Leak tester for vacuum packaging
Roasted coffee beans, as well as grounded coffee, rapidly diminish in flavor. The oxyge...
High speed can seamer
Tin plate thickness for cans has gradually reduced over the years, which makes it a hassle to use new c...
Horizontal cartoner for food products
Depending on the primary product packages, food products like confectionery (biscuits...
Continuous sterilizer for tin cans and jars
A concern in the coffee industry is maintaining the freshness, taste, and qual...
Industrial drying cabinet
The production of high-quality biltong and similar dried meat products can pose problems with main...
Self-adhesive linear labeling machine for bottles
It is vital to have precise and long-lasting labels on bottles to avoid...
CIP system for beverage
Clean-in-place operations are a mandatory part of food and beverage processing which cannot fail. How...
Pillow bag vertical packing machine
When packaging products such as seeds, cereal, snacks, candies, nuts, tea, dried fruits...
Industrial dehydration machine
Dried fruits are popular both as food in themselves and as ingredients. Traditional drying te...
Entry level HFFS Machine for flat sachets
Traditional horizontal form fill and seal sachet machines for lower volume lines...
High-Speed Pouch Packaging Machine
For large scale production of powders and liquids in a wide range of industry sectors, a...
Checkweigher for sachets and sticks
The checkweighers for multiple lanes have a 1.5 times faster response speed and 2 times...
Sachet Machine
If you want to pack into eye-catching 4-side sealed sachets between 40×50 mm and 250×200 mm in size, ...
Pilot evaporation plant for the recovery of extracts
For development of concentrates of extracts based on water or ethano...
Continuous belt freeze dryer
Freeze drying is the most gentle and aroma protective method of drying, widely used in the coff...
High-speed unscrambler for small bottles
Large-scale production of smaller volume bottled product needs a gentle, accurate ...
Full crate inspection system
State of the art crate inspection system that uses a laser camera system to see if the bottles ...
High-frequency fill level controller
In terms of high-frequency technology, the fill level detection is considered a standa...
Empty bottle height sorting system
An empty bottle sorting system that uses the light barrier technology. It detects bottle...