TEA MANUFACTURE. The shoots may be prepared in several ways to make black or green tea. To make the former, the leaf is usually withered and rolled or distorted by rolling in the conventional tea rollers, or is passed through tea machines, the 'rotorvane' and CTC rollers which exert drastic action on the withered leaves. The juice of the leaf cells is exposed in the air to oxidize (fermentation) when important changes take place. When the optimum fermentation is reached, the action of enzyme is arrested by drying the fermented leaf in a current of hot air in suitable tea-dryers. In the production of green tea, the shoots are steamed as soon as possible after plucking and the leaf oxidized is soon destroyed so that fermentation does not take place on rolling.

The processed tea is passed through a series of meshes, sorting out leaf grades and dust. The tea leaves are sorted into different grades , for example, pekoe, Orange pekoe, Flowery pekoe, Broken Orange pekoe and Fannings.

Tea intended for export is packed in plywood chests and shipped directly to various centres or sold through auctions at centres like Calcutta and Cochin.

Instant tea, soluble in water, tea bag and ready mix tea are new developments.

GENERAL. The information in this section touches only the salient points of tea culture and manufacture.

Tea research is carried out in the country at two centres: Tocklai Experimental Station of the tea research association , Jorhat (Assam) and the Tea Research Station of the United Planters Association of Southern India (UPASI) Cinchona P.o., Coimbatore district, Tamil Nadu.

Certain adhoc schemes on tea research are carried out at centres such as the Central Food Technological Research Institute at Mysore and the Department of Applied Chemistry, Calcutta university.

The Tocklai Experimental Station publishes its findings in its annual reports, bulletin the Tea Encyclopedia and in the journal Two and a Bud. The UPASI tea Research Station publishes the results of research in its annual reports, bulletins Handbook of tea Culture and in the Planter's Chronicle.

Coffee. Coffee is cultivated commercially in the four southern states of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh. It is also grown on a limited scale in some non-traditional areas of Orissa, West Bengal, Assam and Madhya Pradesh

Arabica (Coffee Arabica) and robusta (coffee canephora) are the two principal economic species extensively cultivated in India. While 90,211 hectare area (57.98%) is under arabica, 65,365 hectares (42.02%) are under robusta. India produces 85,000 to 100,000 tonnes of coffee and earns considerable foreign exchange. The details in respect of the area are given below:

Table1. Area under coffee (1973-74)

state	Arabica (in ha)	Robusta (in ha)	Total (in ha)
Karnataka	62,844	28,470	91,314
Tamil Nadu	21,619	2747	24,366
Kerala	4550	33,808	38,358
Andhra Pradesh	808	8	816
Assam	116	22	138
Orissa	201	-	201
Madhya Pradesh	45	-	45
Maharashtra	23	-	23
Andaman Islands	5	1	6
Total	90211	65056	1,55,267

Coffee cultivation is confined to the hilly areas of the Western and Eastern Ghats. The annual rainfall ranges from 1250 to 3000mm. A major portion of the area is under the south-westerly monsoon and only a small area is under north-easterly monsoon. This plant grows well at temperatures between 12 and 36 degrees celcius. Elevation above the sea level influences the quality of the coffee. Coffee arabica grows well at elevations between 900 and 1200 metres; Coffee canephora or robusta grows luxuriantly at the lower elevations (about 150 metres). Arabicas are more shade-loving than robustas under conditions in south India.

SOIL. Coffee soils in India belong to the red and lateritic soils. The soils differ in texture from sandy loam to clayey loam. Red ferruginous clays occur in tracts e.g. Bababudangiris in Karnataka and the Nilgiris in Tamil Nadu. They have good aggregating ability and are generally well-drained. They are rich in organic matter and are acidic to neutral. The total soluble salts are well below the sensitivity limits. They are well stocked with potassium but low in available phosphorus. They are also poor in calcium, and magnesium. They respond well to liming, manuring and other soil management practices.

CLIMATE. Climatic and environmental factors, like rainfall, temperature, elevation and aspect can influence the economic production of coffee much more than soil factors. Under conditions in southern India, summer temperatures combined with poor subsoil moisture can be a severe limiting factor, whereas at northern latitudes cold winter temperatures can be equally limiting.

Soil and climatic requirements for arabica and robusta under south Indian conditions.

	ARABICA	ROBUSTA
1**********.Elevation	1000 to 1500 m (mean sea level)	500 to 1000m
2. annual rainfall	1600 to 2500 mm	1000 to 2000 mm
3. blossom rain	march-april (2.5 to 4 cm)	february - march (2 to 4 cm)
4. backing rain	april-may (5 to 7.5 cm)	april-may (5 to 7.5 cm)
5. shade	needs medium to light shade	needs uniform thin shade
6. Temperature	15 to 25 deg C.	20 to 30 deg C
7. Relative	70 to 80%	80 to 90%
8.Soil	deep friable, porous, rich in organic matter, moisture-retentive, slightly acidic, pH 6 to 6.5.	same
9. Aspect	northern, eastern and north-eastern aspects are ideal.	same
10.slopes	a gentle to moderate slope	gently sloping to fairly level fields

The major climatic factors that affect arabica and robusta are:

lack of blossom showers	absence of rain in March-April	absence of rain in March
rain on day of blossom	partial to complete failure	partial failure
hailstones	injure the floral and vegetative parts	-do-
backing showers	absent in may, poor crop set	absent in april, poor crop set
severe western exposures	partial to complete	partial to complete
excessive wetness and water logging	-do-	-do-
wind	both are sensitive to wind disturbances