OneCeylon
All questions

High-grown Broken Orange Pekoe Fannings (BOPF) leaf particle sorting: Chula sifter screens?

Seen by 1,280 travellers
Jump to the accepted answer
K
Klaus Tea•935 rep

How do automated vibrating Chula sifters and electrostatic stalk extractors sort fine BOPF dust grades for commercial high-speed teabag packing lines?

23

5 Answers from travellers

✓Accepted Answer

Following fluid-bed drying, black tea passes through the factory grading room. Broken Orange Pekoe Fannings (BOPF)—the backbone of Sri Lanka’s commercial export trade—consists of clean, grainy leaf particles sized between 0.8mm and 1.2mm. Vibrating Chula sifters fitted with graduated wire-mesh brass screens (typically 18-mesh over 24-mesh) separate BOPF from larger BOP and smaller Dust grades. The sieved leaf passes beneath electrostatic PVC rollers that generate static friction to attract and lift lighter, fibrous stalk particles away from dense black tea grains.

37
K
Kevin Sommelier•1930 rep

BOPF particle size must remain strictly consistent; variable particle sizing causes uneven flow and pouch bursting on high-speed teabag packaging lines.

21
K
Klaus Tea•935 rep

Highland estates (like Pedro or Labookellie) produce BOPF with higher liquor brightness and floral briskness than heavy, malty low-country fannings.

18
J
Jules Plant•915 rep

Factory grading rooms operate dust-extraction hood fans over sifter tables to protect machine workers from fine airborne tea fluff (fluff waste).

14
N
Nils Soils•890 rep

BOPF extracts rapidly in boiling water, releasing intense color and brisk astringency within 60 seconds, making it the preferred grade for milk tea.

12
I
Ian Flavors•880 rep

You must be logged in to post an answer.

Log In to Answer

Related questions

Browse all questions