Tea Drying Machine Manufacturers

Tea drying machines — role in tea processing

Tea drying is the final step in the tea manufacturing process — it reduces the moisture content of the processed tea leaf (after withering, rolling, fermentation for black tea, or kill-green for green tea) to the target level for stable storage, typically 3–5% moisture. The main types of tea dryers used in commercial tea processing include: continuous conveyor dryers with a divided firing chamber (most common in orthodox tea manufacture — the tea leaf moves through a long drying tunnel on a wire mesh conveyor belt against a flow of hot air; the firing temperature is highest at the entry and decreases as the leaf dries to avoid scorching the dry leaf surface); fluid bed dryers (used in CTC tea manufacture — the small, uniform CTC tea particles can be fluidised and dried efficiently in a fluid bed); and tray or rotary dryers for smaller scales. The drying temperature and moisture final content are critical parameters — over-drying reduces weight yield; under-drying produces a product that deteriorates rapidly in storage.