[Original caption] No. 7 - Withering: The First Manufacturing Process - The freshly plucked leaf is spread thinly on shelves of jute-hessian of wire and left to wither from 18 to 20 hours. The tea leaves are then cut to bring out the juice. After this the tea leaves are fired to keep their flavor. Most Ceylon tea plantations are at heights between 3000-8000 feet above sea level. [end]
Tea leave are dried in similar fashion across India and Sri Lanka today. The Tea and Coffee Trade Journal, the card's publisher, founded in 1901 in New York, still thrives and estimates that 3.6 million cups of tea are served in coffee shops alone each day in the UK.