What is machine used in tea sorting?

The machines used in tea sorting are primarily color sorters and X-ray inspection machines, each designed to address specific challenges in tea production.

Why Does Tea Need to Be Sorted?
Tea sorting is essential for several reasons:
1. Consistency in Quality: Tea leaves vary in size, color, and texture. Sorting helps ensure uniformity, which is crucial for maintaining consistent product quality.
2. Removal of Foreign Materials: Raw tea may contain contaminants like twigs, stones, dust, and other foreign materials from harvesting and processing. Sorting removes these impurities to meet food safety standards.
3. Improved Market Value: Well-sorted tea is visually more appealing and has a better taste profile, leading to higher market value. Premium tea grades require uniformity in appearance and flavor.
4. Meeting Consumer Expectations: Sorting ensures that the final product meets consumers’ expectations in terms of leaf quality, appearance, and purity. This is especially important for high-end teas.
5. Compliance with Regulations: Sorting helps tea producers comply with international food safety and quality standards, reducing the risk of recalls or rejections by buyers.

Machines Used in Tea Sorting
1. Color Sorter (Optical Sorter): This machine uses visible light technology to sort tea based on surface characteristics like color, shape, and texture. It helps in removing foreign materials such as twigs, dust, and discolored leaves, ensuring consistent quality in the final product.
– Example: The Techik Ultra-High-Definition Conveyor Color Sorter is highly effective at detecting subtle surface impurities and variations that are difficult to identify manually, such as minute particles like hair or dust.

2. X-ray Inspection Machine: This machine uses X-ray technology to penetrate the tea leaves and detect internal foreign objects or defects that cannot be seen on the surface. It identifies contaminants like small stones, dense particles, or even mold within the tea.
– Example: The Techik Intelligent X-ray Machine excels at identifying internal defects based on density differences, providing an additional layer of safety and quality control by detecting low-density impurities like tiny stones or internal foreign objects.

By utilizing both color sorting and X-ray technology, tea processors can achieve higher precision in grading, ensuring that the tea is free of foreign materials and meets high-quality standards before reaching consumers.