Production: Tea in India
100kg of fresh tea leaf produces 22 – 25kg of dried tea leaf. [1]
The tea industry is energy intensive. It depends on energy sources for it manufacturing process and transportation [2]. Black tea variaties such as Earl Grey and Empress require: wilting, bruising, oxidation, rolling and drying. It is one of the “cheapest” tea in terms of energy use in production.
Tea processing
Please watch this 6 mins video on tea production in India. The video talks about Chai tea, which is also a variety of black tea.
In Taiwan, tea farmers are encouraged to use machinery instead of hand picking to harvest because of the increase in efficiency. The motor powered machines harvests more than 10 times the amount of traditional hand picking [3]. Machinery produces lower quality teas that are formulated for tea bags. The left over fluff or powdered bits are used to produce caffeine in soft drinks.
A google search of “tea harvest efficiency” gave me a website that sells harvesting machinery. Almost 200kg per hour for one person operating machine. A 3 persons machine harvest 700kg/hour, which is over 230kg per hour per person.
One person: Average Working Efficiency 193.6Kgs/Hour [link]
Average Working Efficiency 700Kgs/Hour
If every 100kg of fresh leaves produces 25kg of tea, which is 1/4 of fresh leaves weight, then 700kg of fresh leaves gives 175kg of tea. My Tetley is 160g of 80 sachets, 160 grams!
1.6kg = 10 boxes
16kg = 100 boxes
160kg = 1000 boxes
In one hour, 700 kg of fresh leaves gives 175kg of tea, which is more than one thousand boxes of 80 sachets… eighty thousand sachets, 4 zeros trailing…in one hour!
If i drink 3 sachets per day, 80,000 sachets last 26,666 days, which is 73 years. Assume I start drinking tea during childhood, one hour’s harvest by a 3 persons machine is enough to provide for my whole life span.
Due to limited technical knowledge, I cannot calculate gasoline efficiency and consumption of these harvesting machines. The important fact is the machines use on oil.
According to the study by the Tea Research Institute of Sri Lanka,
“The energy cost is about 30% of the cost of production at the factory level. The fertilizer component of the total cost of production of tea is about 15%. The cost of nitrogen will be about 50% of the fertilizer cost.“
The report concludes that the total energy requirement to produce 1 kilogram of black tea is about 25MJ, which is about 1kWh of electricity and 2kg of fire wood. The primary energy sources are imported petroleum and wood.
Energy Consumption in Tea Processing
Environmental issues are raised in the report as well. The report also looks at alternative energy sources from fire wood, to substitue for diesel. Assam Tea Planters’ Association (ATPA) is also looking at other sources other than fossil fuel such as natural gas [4].
Climate change is a threat to tea production in India and neighbouring regions [5]. Measure have been taken to reduce pollutant emission and increase energy efficiency.
A project by UNPD India: Energy Conservation in Small Sector Tea Processing Units in Southern India, studies on the reduction of firewood usage in the energy intensive tea industry [6].
“Impact studies post implementation of 86 factories show that 263,952 tons of CO2emissions reductions has resulted from the energy efficiency measures undertaken. On an average, the tea produced with ENCON measures generated 0.266 kg CO2lesser (10 percent less) than earlier (3.81 kg CO2/kg of tea)”
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