Dallmayr
Dallmayr tea

Dallmayr tea

Quality made by experts

Tea has been a Dallmayr tradition for around 130 years. The individual provenance of black and green tea hails from a vast area ranging from the sunny southern slopes of the Himalayas to Japan and is carefully selected and blended in the Dallmayr tea factory. Around 120 varieties of various origin are available for selection – from ‘true tea’ to fruit and herbal infusions, as well as more exotic options such as matcha or turmeric tea.

Dallmayr Mitarbeiterinnen in der Teeabteilung im Delikatessenhaus MünchenZwei Hände mit getrockneten Teeblättern

Tea preparation

Valuable tips for preparing tea–
How to make the perfect pot of tea in just a few steps

Dallmayr loser Tee

Good to know: different teas
have different brewing times.

· Black tea: 3–5 minutes
· Green tea: 2–3 minutes
· Fruit, rooibos and herbal teas: 5–10 minutes

1.2.3.4.5.6.
1. Water

Always use fresh, cold tap water.

2. Warming the vessel

Rinse out the teapot before use with hot water to warm it.

3. Temperature

Pour boiling water over black tea, herbal tea and fruit tea. For green tea, allow the water to cool down to approx. 80°C, or the tea will taste bitter.

4. Unfolding

Loose leaf tea needs space to unfold, so do not ‘confine’ it in a tea infuser.

5. Keeping the tea warm

Teapot warmers may look attractive, but they burn away the aroma of the tea. A Thermos flask is perfect here.

6. Rinsing

Rinse the teapot with hot water after use.

Tea cultivation regions

Illustration Weltkarte mit Teeanbaugebieten
ArgentinaEthiopiaBangladeshChinaGeorgiaIndonesiaIndiaIranJapanKenyaMalawiMyanmarNepalSri LankaTaiwanTanzaniaThailandTurkeyVietnam

Tea has an unbelievably long history:

since the Chinese Emperor’s serendipitous discovery in 2737 BC, tea has become the most popular drink in the world today, second only to water. The first ships of the Dutch East India Company brought tea to Holland in around 1610.

Very soon thereafter, East Frisian sailors working on the Dutch ships brought tea home to East Frisia for the first time. By around 1720 the tea trade was thriving in East Frisia.

Tea plants

The most popular plants in the world! Like coffee, there are different types of tea, both of which come from the ‘original’ species, Camelia sinensis.

Harvesting and processing

It is our mission to create uniquely indulgent moments with tea at their heart, and therefore to arouse a fascination with the world of tea. The journey from cultivation and harvesting to processing is a long one that we undertake with the utmost care and most stringent quality standard.

  • Harvesting
  • Processing
  • Steaming vs pan firing
  • Withering
  • Rolling
  • Fermentation/
    oxidation
  • Drying
  • Sorting

Harvesting

‘Two leaves and a bud’ is the rule of harvesting tea. Only the young buds bring the coveted ingredients and pleasant taste to the tea.

In India, the first harvest of the year – known as the ‘first flush’ – starts after the winter break and runs from mid-March to the end of April. The 'second flush’ runs from mid-May to the end of June. The highlight of the tea season comes right at the start of harvesting in March: The ‘first flush by air’ is the very first plucking of the season, which is loaded directly onto planes directly after processing and sent out to the whole world, where tea connoisseurs eagerly await them.

It takes a lot of work to produce a cup of tea: 4 kg of tea leaves make 1 kg of black tea.

Erntehelferinnen pflücken TeeblätterErntehelferin pflückt Teeblätter

Processing

From one plant comes many different varieties. Processing alone determines whether the leaves become white, green or black tea. It all depends on the combination of individual steps and the order in which they are carried out.

Nahaufnahme einer Teepflanze

1Steaming vs pan firing

For green tea to be green, the enzymes responsible for fermentation must be deactivated. In China, this process is traditionally carried out in a hot iron pan. In Japan, by contrast, green tea is steamed. It looks like cooked spinach in the end.

Illustration Dämpfen von Teeblättern und Illustration Rösten von Teeblättern in Eisenpfanne
SteamingPan firing

2Withering

To create black tea, the leaves have to be withered immediately after plucking. Withering makes the leaves limp and soft so they can be processed further.

Gepflückte Teeblätter ausgebreitet auf langen Welkgestellen

3Rolling

The leaves for black and green tea are then rolled. Rolling ruptures the cell walls of the leaves, releasing essential oils and producing a captivating aroma. Black tea leaves start to oxidise, whereas green tea leaves do not.

Teeblätter werden in Maschine gerollt

4Fermentation/oxidation

Black tea gets its colour and flavour from fermentation. The tea is officially ‘roasted’ in this highly controlled process. The fermentation master stops fermentation at exactly the right point.

Grüner, frisch gerollter Tee und dunklerer, fermentierter Tee

5Drying

Whether tea is white, green or black, all teas must be dried after processing. Hot air is used to dry the tea across multiple stages in special dryers until there is only 3–6% moisture remaining.

Illustration Wagentrockner mit mehreren Ebenen für Tee

6Sorting

The tea is then sorted by leaf grade using vibrating sieves with different hole sizes.
This is where we see the different grades of black tea. FOP and BOP grades are used for loose leaf teas, pyramids, tea pockets and tea champs. Tea producers, including us, use fannings in premium tea bags. Sorting has nothing to do with the quality of the team because all of the leaf grades come from the same plucking. It is only used to aid the subsequent use of the tea. As an aside, ‘dust’ is mainly used to produce cheap tea bags, iced tea and tea extract.

Tee wird in einer Maschine nach Blattgraden sortiert
Illustration Tee Blattgrade

Leaf tea> 5 mm to whole leaves: for the most exquisite leaf teas
FOP to SFTGFOP1

Broken tea3–5 mmBOP to GFBOP

Fannings1–3 mmfor our teabag blends

Dust1 mmfor cheap teabags or the production of instant and iced tea

Tea tasting

Tea tasting is a standard practice here at Dallmayr. Whether during the purchasing process, to check the quality of new deliveries or of varieties already in our possession, or to develop new and exciting blends, our tea experts go through many cups of tea every day.

Good to know

Tea and its mysteries

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