Dought & clear, - Is the fermentation of tea haraam?

I came across an old magazine, and noticed the following, which I will
quote as it appears in the magazine, about tea and its benefits:
"There is a difference between green and black tea in the way it is
preserved and 'fermented' after being collected. Black tea, which is
also known as Ceylon tea or English tea, is made from green tea, after
the fresh leaves are picked and dried in a simple fashion, then they
are soaked until they ferment.
My question is: Is this process of fermenting tea regarded as haraam?.
Praise be to Allaah.
The fermentation of tea that is mentioned in this article is not the
same as the fermentation that happens to grapes, dates etc in order to
make them intoxicants. Rather what is meant by fermentation here is
oxidization, i.e., exposing the tea to oxygen for three hours,
according to the experts.
With green tea, the leaves are treated with steam after picking, then
they are dried immediately, and not exposed to any oxidization, rather
they are preserved with the same properties as are found in fresh tea.
But in the case of black tea, the leaves are separated after
collection and are sorted into fine layers on a net made of wire or
sackcloth in order to get rid of excess water, then the leaves are
crumbled and sifted, then subjected to an oxidization process, by
exposing the fresh leaves to oxygen for three hours, until the tea
loses its green colour and becomes dark coloured, after which it
becomes black tea.
If this oxidization is done only partially, we get tea that is
partially fermented, between green and black. This is called tannin
and it combines the qualities of both black and green tea.
See:Mawsoo'ah al-A'shaab al-Tibbiyyahby the pharmacist Dr Ahmad
Muhammad 'Awf;Qaamoos al-Ghidha' wa'l-Tadaawi bi'l-Nabaatby Ahmad
Qudaamah, published by Daar al-Nafaa'is;al-Ghidha' la al-Dawa'by Dr.
Sabri al-Qabbaani, published by Dar al-'Ilm li'l-Malaayeen. All of
these books are arranged in alphabetical order.
This is what we have been able to find out about expert opinions on
this matter. Thus it is clear that the process of fermenting tealeaves
is not haraam, rather fermenting them means exposing them to oxygen,
and we do no know of any scholar who says that this is haraam.
And Allaah knows best.

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Regards,
NAJIMUDEEN M/
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