SA Chai HoldingsCTC Tea
Crush, Tear, Curl — a method of processing black tea in which leaves pass through serrated rollers that crush, tear, and curl them into small, uniform pellets.
Compared to Orthodox tea, CTC brews darker and stronger, often with a more bitter or acidic edge. It's forgiving to brew and works well with milk, sweeteners, or lemon — part of why it's the tea behind most classic chai.
Four grades, from bold to fine.
Broken Pekoe (BP)
Small, broken leaves producing a strong, full-bodied brew. Common in blends and popular for chai or milk-based teas.
Broken Orange Pekoe (BOP)
A finer version of BP with smaller leaves, delivering a strong, brisk flavour. Common in both tea bags and loose-leaf blends.
Pekoe Fannings (PF)
Even smaller particles than BOP for a quick, strong infusion. Widely used in tea bags for a strong, brisk cup.
Pekoe Dust (PD)
The smallest CTC particles, delivering a very strong, fast-brewing, bold cup — often used in mass-market tea bags or blending.
A largely automated process — 10 to 20 hours.
Plucking
Tea bushes are ready when they "flush," producing new leaf shoots. For black Darjeeling tea, this means hand-harvesting the top two leaves and a new bud. The season runs four times a year: first flush in March, second in May, monsoon flush in July, autumnal flush in October. Leaves must reach the facility quickly to avoid premature oxidation.
Withering
Warm air passed through large fans reduces moisture content by approximately 45–55% over about 10 hours.
CTC Process
Withered leaves are crushed, torn, and curled using serrated rollers, transforming them into uniform pellets. Crushing breaks down cell walls, releasing enzymes that accelerate fermentation.
Fermenting
The green pellets go into a continuous fermenting machine, where cool air drives fermentation over about 4 hours as the pellets change colour from green to brown.
Drying
Hot air dries the fermented pellets from brown to nearly black, halting fermentation and locking in the final flavour and aroma.
Sorting & Packaging
The dried tea is sorted by size and quality using mesh sieves, ensuring only properly graded pellets are packaged for sale.