The processing of tea is carried out as soon as possible after the harvest and nearly always on the estate in an elongated four story building called a factory. This process is comprised of five steps: Withering, Rolling, Fermentation, Firing and Sifting.

Withering reduces the dark, glossy leaves to a soft, limp condition with forty percent less weight due to moisture loss. The leaves are brought fresh from the estate fields and spread over shelves of nylon netting called "tats". These are stretched over a trough with warm air being forced through from below for a period of six to eight hours. When a leaf can be folded in half, from point to stem without snapping the mid-rib, it is ready to be sent on for rolling.

Rolling is the step of applying pressure to the withered leaves in order to release the essential oils and enzymes responsible for giving tea its characteristic flavor. Rolling also gives the leaf the twist or curled shape that you can see in some packets of tea. This is done in a tea roller which is a round table equipped with battens (curved wood slats) radiating from its center where an inverted cone is situated. A metal housing, called the jacket, rotates over the table crushing the leaves against the battens and the cone. The leaves emerge in sticky lumps which then have to be broken apart by a separate machine called the roll-breaker which sieves the leaves through a mesh to separate them before they are carried away for the next step.

Fermentation is the single most crucial step in the processing of tea, imparting the distinctive flavor characteristics that will define a particular tea. The rolled tea leaves are spread evenly and thinly on a concrete floor in a cool, airy, and humid room. The tea then is allowed to naturally ferment by oxidizing. Through enzymic action, the juices have been squeezed from the leaves. It is during this step that the leaves change from a greenish color to a bright, coppery shade. Careful monitoring is required and the time needed will depend on the condition and type of leaf, but it will usually take 1.5 to 2 hours to achieve the desired level of fermentation.

Firing stops the fermentation process and dries the leaves to about two percent moisture. This is done by placing the leaves on trays that circulate through a dryer while the temperature is gradually increased to about 190 degrees fahrenheit. Very careful monitoring is once again needed throughout this 30 minute step to ensure that the tea is neither under-fired nor over-fired and burnt. The proper result will ensure that new black looking leaves will keep their flavor locked-in as it is finally brewed for drinking.

Sifting, or Grading, is the final step before the tea is packeted for marketing. This first involves the removal of the mid-ribs and veins from the leaves and the subsequent sorting of the leaves into a number of different grades according to the size of each leaf. The basic grades are "leaf", "broken" and "dust". The tea is then packed and shipped off the estate to auction.