As soon as the desired degree of fermentation has been obtained, the leaf is taken to the drying machines for firing. The primary object of firing tea is to arrest fermentation and to remove mosisture. If fermented but unfired leaf is infused it will be found that a very coarse and rasping liquor is obtained, but in the process of firing the leaf loses its greenish raw taste and becomes more mellow. Firing of the tea thus produces some changes in the leaf and these transformations are necessary to the finished article, as well to make the tea suitable for storage. Firing of tea must, therefore, be looked upon as a further step in developing those changes started in the rollers for the production of black tea from green withered leaf, and not simply as a process which removes the moisture from the fermented leaf alone.

Proper conditions of firing are very necessary for successful tea making and the actual temperature to which the tea is subjected is very important. One essential point to remember is that the temperature of leaf should be raised to the degree necessary to check and arrest fermentation of the leaf as quickly as possible; otherwise a very rapid the fermentation will take place in the drier during the period the leaf is heated up, and leaf which has been faultlessly handled up to this point may be completely ruined.