CTC TEA

CTC teas generally produce a rich red-brown color when they are boiled by the Indian method. The drawback of the CTC method is that it tends by its nature, and unfortunately by adulteration, to homogenize all black tea flavors. In the process of crushing, tearing and pelletizing the tea leaves, large pressures and stresses occur which break down the cells, releasing large amounts of the phytins that normally oxidize to produce black tea’s mahogany color. Since, regardless of origin, CTC teas in their dry form are generically “tea-like” in aroma, very similar in pelletized form, it is very easy to adulterate a more expensive CTC-type tea with inexpensive and generally mild lowland teas of the same process. Whole and broken leaf teas by contrast are quite varied in appearance, making adulteration more difficult.