As soon as I see the sweet sunshine in the morning, I get up from the bed and go to the kitchen. Then, by burning the stove, measure two cups of water in a pot and place it in a straight stove with sugar-tea leaves. Meanwhile, when leaving water taps and mouth watering, it comes to the nose, the gentle aroma of boiling tea leaves in boiling water.
I was telling two stories about the fascinating magic of a bud. The list of favorite Bengali drinks will probably be the first place in this tea leaf. But they did not have the good fortune of discovering this beloved water of Bengal. The introduction of tea leaves in this country started in the hands of the English, but the people of the subcontinent did not expel the tea leaf along with the English from the country. Rather, the grain of the side of the stove made him a place of tea. But there is a long way to go to this small place to get the tea leaf.
When the British East India Company introduced the first tea in the first half of the nineteenth century, the Bengalis did not take the matter well. Drinking tea was removed as a new plot by the abusive Englishman. But if there is a spring outside, thousands of attempts to come to his house cannot be stopped. Likewise, despite the appearances of the digested society, tea leaves infiltrated in the Andarmahal of Bengal. The Bengalis who were invited to the company's afternoon rituals, at first, saw Saheb's tea from afar. In this way, the tea chakra of Saheb's house became an aspect of Bengali life.
Towards this end, the East India Company started cultivating tea leaves in Bangladesh. Within a few days, the noble merchants of India became involved. Even the people of Jodasako's Thakurbari are said to have been involved in this business. The Malnichhara Tea Garden, founded in 1854, is called the first tea garden in Bangladesh.
Sloping land is essential for tea cultivation. Because the tea tree needs more rainfall. Therefore, the slopes do not allow rainwater to accumulate at the base of the tree. The evergreen tree does not like direct sunlight. Because of this, occasional rows of trees are planted in the garden, such as Eucalyptus.
Three to four times a year, women collect two leaves from a tea tree. From each tree, women collect these tea leaves with their own hands. Think of the amount of labor, attention and patience it takes to collect such thousands of buds in each tree. If I or you, we might have picked up the whole tree instead of the bud!
The leaves were handed over to the garden staff by the women, and they returned home with the amount of money collected by each leaf. There is still plenty of time left for this simple tea tree to become a ginger tea in the kitchen.
First of all, the leaves are left in an open area and the fan is dried with extra water (about 60 percent).
The leaves are then rolled on a roller machine and rolled well. And at this stage, the leaves grow in the shape of granules.
The granulated tea leaves are then divided into several sections by means of an automatic filter. These divisions are based mainly on the method of production. The main two components of the tea production system are Orthodox and CTC (C.T.C = Curl, Tear & Crush).
In Bangladesh, tea is mainly produced in the BTC (Broken Orage Pekoe) and OF (Orange Fanning) grades in the CTC system. Many times in tea packets we see different letters B, F, G. These articles basically indicate the tea grade of the packet. With the grading of the tea leaves, the tea will indicate the taste and taste of the tea. Again, we all know, the taste of the bitter taste on the leaves of the small grains and the aroma of the large grains.
So sit down and read about single tea in your hand and think about how this little tea leaf becomes outstanding for you. And if you want to visit the tea city Sylhet once in a while. The nature of the tea garden, the diverse lifestyle of the tea-workers, for some time, will make the mind cool.
Post and image source : roar.media/bangla/main/lifestyle/a-cup-of-tea/