The Origin Of Tea

The legendary origin of tea drinking has been traced back to the Chinese Emperor Chen Nung of 2737BC, who was also a scholar and herbalist, who discovered this detectable drink when he was sitting beneath a tree while his servant was boiling a pot of water. A few leaves from a tea plant (Camellia Sinensis) dropped into the pot of water, gave an excellent aroma and he found it tasted as good when sipped.

Sabah Tea

At SABAH TEA's tea plantation, we are careful with our harvest. Nature has graced us with her best. Located at 2,272 feet above sea level, the harvest here are 100% pesticide free as insects are drawn more towards the 130 million year old rainforest surrounding the plantation, leaving the harvest for SABAH TEA untouched and pure. Unlike most brands of tea, SABAH TEA consists of only tea leaves picked from its own 2,480 hectare plantation. It is the only way to protect its quality of origin and to ensure the leaves are free from unknown substances or chemicals.

Every tea grower knows that the best time to harvest is in Spring or early Winter. Summer's pick is usually lesser in terms of quality. The advantage of its location in the cool foothills of Mount Kinabalu makes every harvest at SABAH TEA plantation a Spring-like harvest.

A tea plantation of SABAH TEA's scale not only ensures consistent quality but selective and exclusive tea cultivation. The tea is naturally rich in flavour without any added colouring. You can see the amazing glow of golden richness around the surface of every cup of SABAH TEA. That's supreme quality you can actually see!

The Manufacturing Process of Sabah Tea

The conversion of green leaf from the carefully nurtured tea fields to black tea is a very specialized process to maintain the final quality of the product.

I. Harvesting

The tea leaves and a bud are selectively harvested by using shears or mechanized cutter by tea harvesters.

II. Withering

The initial stage of processing, where the freshly cut shoots are spread evenly in special racks, and conditioned air flow through and around the leaf to absorb the moisture and concentrate the juices in the leaf.

III. Rolling

The withered leaf is passed through machines which twist and squeeze the juices to the surface of the leaf.

IV. Fermentation

This is an oxidization process where the tea juice in the presence of air oxidizes. The period of fermentation varies depending on the external conditions and there is a distinct change in colour and aroma. Fermentation is essential for the teas to be palatable.

V. Drying (Firing)

Fermented teas are transferred to drying machines (oven) which remove the moisture and arrest fermentation. The teas from a coppery brown become black in colour after this process.

VI. Sorting (Grading)

The final stage of the manufacturing process is the sorting of the tea particles to different grades according to sizes and shapes for identification by various specialists involved in tasting, buying and exporting of the tea.

Despatching

The graded teas will finally leave the factory either packed in the familiar tea chests or aluminum lined paper sacks or in different forms of consumer pack.

Tea Grades From Sabah Tea

Broken Orange Pekoe (BOP)
It is a small grade of tea with good liquoring properties.

Broken Orange Pekoe Fannings (BOPF)
It is a smaller tea with strong liquoring properties.

Fannings (Fngs)
It consists of tiny particles with strong liquors and often used in tea bags.

Dust (D)
It is the smallest of the grades with liquors, thicker and stronger than BOPF. It can be further graded into Dust 1, Dust 2 and etc depending on the particle sizes.