Loose leaf green tea - Japan uses a different processing method
Camillia Sinensis leaves, how do the Japanese process green tea
Although green tea was originally brought to Japan from China. The process from plant to finished loose green tea is done differently.
Simply put instead of pan frying, which is the Chinese method, the loose tea leaves are steamed. This will reduce moisture and stop oxidation.
I'd like to take a moment here to explain oxidation.
While attending a tea class this is the example used to describe it. Take an apple and cut it in half (in the case of tea pluck a leaf) Now the apple is exposed to air.
What will happen to the apple? It starts to change chemically. The appearance changes too. It turns brown. This is the result of oxidation.
Now back to our tea leaf. We don't want it to oxidize. Oxidation will result in black tea. In this case we want our tea to be green.
Stopping oxidation of the loose tea leaves
How is this process of oxidation stopped.
The tea leaves are steamed. This will both stop the oxidation process and reduce water content of the leaves. Tea leaves are steamed for about 60 seconds.
Next the goal is to dry and shape the leaves which in past years was done by hand.
Machine manufacturing was introduced and began replacing handmade tea. Machines took over the processes of primary drying, tea rolling, secondary drying, final rolling, and steaming.
The end result, Japanese loose leaf green.
White Tea | Chinese Loose Leaf Green Tea | Black Tea | Oolong Tea (sometimes called Wulong) | Pu-erh Tea | Varieties of Tea
