Green tea is manufactured in the following stages:

• Panfiring or Steaming occurs immediately after the leaves are plucked. Green tea manufacture generally follows two methods of manufacturing – the Chinese method involves pan firing whereas the Japanese method follows steaming of the tea leaves. In panfiring process, the leaves are placed in a metal pan over a hot flame to render them soft and pliable. Alternatively, the tea leaves can be steamed. The sudden exposure to heat destroys enzymes that would otherwise lead to oxidation. The tea leaves are then cooled to room temperature before they go to the next phase in processing.

• Rolling is the next stage. Though traditionally this process was done with fingers and palms, nowadays, modern machinery is available for this process. Under pressure, the tea leaves are rolled and the leaf juice extracted is coated uniformly on the rolled leaf. In some processes the half rolled leaves are partially dried and rolled again.

• Firing involves drying of rolled leaf in large mechanical dryers. This reduces the moisture content of the leaf and increases shelf life. Fired green tea retains only 2% of its moisture.

• Packing is the last stage in which the tea is blended together to produce different grades and packed in various airtight containers to maintain freshness.