Video captured the moment of the man using hand to process tea leaves on a hot fire pan.
The man from the high mountains in Son La Province of Vietnam.
The man is using hand to process tea in a hot pan to dry fresh tea leaves. He is one of those who still retains this manual method. Currently, tea leaves are dried using a dryer to save time.
However, tea leaves are dried by hot pan have a special flavor. The man said that he had to use his hands to control the tea leaves. He sensed the temperature through his palm to avoid tea leaves from burning or being too dry, and to adjust the flame at the bottom of the pan. The temperature in the pan is very high, the man took many years to get used to the high temperature in the pan. He does not feel hot when touching the pan.
The time to dry tea leaves is about 2 hours. He must use his hand to reverse the tea leaves continuously in the pan.
Tea leaves made with this method are very expensive. Currently, the price for 1 kilogram of dry tea leaves is 80 USD.
Video captured in Son La, Viet Nam.