JP2006174711A - Method for producing tea paste - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method for producing tea paste by which wet tea leaves such as moisture-containing tea dregs can be smoothly crushed regardless of grain diameters of the tea leaves into paste. <P>SOLUTION: The method for producing tea paste comprises using wet tea leaves obtained through soaking tea leaves in a liquid such as warm water in advance, adding a dilute solution to the wet tea leaves in a regulation tank so as to have a prescribed moisture content, roughly crushing the tea leaves with a rough-crushing machine, and making the crushed tea leaves circulate in the regulation tank. Specifically, the dilute solution is introduced in the regulation tank 21 and a rough crushing machine 31 composed of a cutter pump or the like is driven so as to introduce the wet tea leaves through a tea-leaf passage 25 while making the dilute solution fluid, the wet tea leaves are crushed and circulated between the rough-crushing machine 31 and the regulation tank 21. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for producing a tea paste by adding a liquid to tea leaves and finely crushing, and more particularly to a method for producing a tea paste from teacups.

  In recent years, the reuse of waste has been promoted, and various treatment methods have been proposed for the purpose of reusing teacups generated in the production process of tea beverages. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a method for producing a food additive from teacups by dehydrating the teacups, drying them using far infrared rays, and then pulverizing them. According to this method, the tea bowl is dehydrated and dried using far-infrared rays, thereby preventing the decay of the tea bowl and increasing the content of useful components such as amino acids and theanine. The

  However, in the above method, since the components contained in the tea leaves are transferred to the dehydrated filtrate of the tea bowl, useful components are lost from the tea bowl by dehydration, and the dehydrated filtrate needs to be processed. For this reason, the inventor of the present application has previously proposed a method of crushing a teacup containing water and reusing it as a paste (Japanese Patent Application No. 2004-501023).

  By the way, as a method for making tea leaves into a paste, a method has been proposed in which a mixture obtained by adding a liquid such as fat or sugar alcohol liquid to a refined dried tea leaf is ground under predetermined conditions to produce a tea paste ( Patent Document 2). According to the method described in Patent Document 2, by adding a liquid to a refined tea leaf that has been previously crushed to a particle size of about 1 mm or less, the powder is prevented from being scattered when grinding the tea leaf. Tea leaves can be made very fine.

However, since the above method uses dried tea leaves that have been refined in advance, when the above method is applied to teacups, it is necessary to dehydrate and dry the teacups as in the method disclosed in Patent Document 1. In addition, when trying to process tea leaves containing various sizes of tea pieces, there is a risk of causing problems such as trouble that the tea leaves are clogged in the grinding apparatus and a longer time required for the grinding process.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-111466 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-107

  This invention is made | formed in view of the said subject, The objective is to provide the manufacturing method of the tea paste which can manufacture easily the tea paste in which quality was homogenized irrespective of the particle size of the tea leaf. In addition, the present invention is a method for producing a tea paste that can be crushed smoothly into a paste form, regardless of the particle size of tea leaves or the mixing ratio of tea stems and leaves. The purpose is to provide.

  The present invention uses wet tea leaves obtained by immersing tea leaves in a liquid such as warm water in advance, and after adding a diluent to the wet tea leaves so that the moisture content becomes a predetermined water content in the adjustment tank, Crush and circulate in the conditioning tank. More specifically, the present invention provides the following.

  (1) A concentration adjusting step for obtaining a diluted tea leaf by introducing a wet tea leaf obtained by immersing the tea leaf in a liquid into a regulating tank equipped with a stirrer and mixing the diluted tea leaf with a diluent to obtain a diluted tea leaf; Adjusting the concentration adjustment step for the rough crushing step of sending the diluted tea leaves obtained in the adjustment step from the adjustment tank and passing through the coarse crusher for rough crushing, and the coarse crushing tea leaves passing through the rough crusher in the rough crushing step A method for producing a tea paste, comprising a circulation step of circulating in a tank.

  Here, “wet tea leaves” are obtained by immersing fresh tea leaves or tea in a liquid such as warm water for 1 minute or more, preferably 3 to 5 minutes, and a moisture content of 78 to 85% by weight, preferably 80%. Contains ~ 83 wt% moisture. The “tea leaves” immersed in the liquid are tea leaves used for eating and drinking, and not only “tea making” processed for eating and drinking, but also “raw tea leaves” that are tea leaves collected from tea trees and not processed substantially. Is also included. The term “tea making” means tea leaves obtained by processing raw tea leaves by known methods such as steaming, kettle making, and fermentation, and includes dried “dried tea leaves”. There are no particular restrictions on the tea tree varieties from which fresh tea leaves are collected and the processing method for producing tea.

  The diluted solution is mixed with the wet tea leaf so that the solid concentration of the mixture of the wet tea leaf and the diluted solution (referred to as “diluted tea leaf”) is 5 to 10% by weight, preferably 7 to 8% by weight. Diluted tea leaves are roughly crushed by the coarse crusher by passing through the coarse crusher through the adjustment tank, and gradually and finely crushed by being circulated to the adjustment tank. For this reason, according to the present invention, even when the wet tea leaves include leaf pieces having a large particle diameter and tubular bodies such as veins, petioles, and stems, these can be gradually broken down, thereby preventing troubles in the crusher. Thus, a tea paste with a uniform particle size can be obtained.

  (2) In the said density | concentration adjustment process, the manufacturing method of the tea paste as described in (1) which introduce | transduces the said wet tea leaf in the state which introduce | transduced the diluent into the said adjustment tank and fluidized.

  Since wet tea leaves absorb moisture, the wet tea leaves tend to be softened and crushed, but have low fluidity. Therefore, according to the method described in (2), the wet tea leaves are introduced into the adjustment tank little by little in a state where the dilution liquid is introduced into the adjustment tank in advance and fluidized, thereby utilizing the inertia of the previously fluidized dilution liquid. And can promote the flow of wet tea leaves. For this reason, it is possible to prevent the wet tea leaves from staying in the adjustment tank, and to reduce energy consumption for sending the diluted tea leaves to the coarse crusher and circulating them from the coarse crusher to the adjustment tank.

  About half of the volume of the adjustment tank is introduced into the adjustment tank in advance, and the wet tea leaves are ¼ to 1/2 times the dilution liquid held in the adjustment tank while providing fluidity with a stirrer. It is preferable to introduce into the adjustment tank over about 5 to 10 minutes. A diluent may be added to the adjustment tank as appropriate so that the solid concentration of the fluid in the adjustment tank is in the range of 7 to 8% by weight.

  The method for producing the tea paste may be either a batch type or a continuous type. In the case of a batch type, when a certain amount of dilution liquid and wet tea leaves are introduced into the adjustment tank, the dilution liquid and wet tea leaves are added to the adjustment tank. Stop the introduction and continue only the coarse crushing process and the circulation process. And if the average particle diameter and solid substance density | concentration of the fluid in a adjustment tank become a predetermined value, a rough crushing tea leaf will be taken out from the adjustment tank, continuing a rough crushing process and a circulation process. On the other hand, in the continuous type, the average particle diameter and solid matter concentration of the fluid in the adjustment tank are within a predetermined range while continuously introducing the diluent or / and wet tea leaves into the adjustment tank continuously or intermittently. When the value is within the range, a part of the coarsely crushed material sent from the adjustment tank is circulated and discharged.

  (3) In the said density | concentration adjustment process, the moisture content of the said wet tea leaf is measured, and the manufacturing method of the tea paste as described in (1) or (2) which controls the quantity of the said dilution liquid.

  The moisture content of the wet tea leaves introduced into the adjustment tank varies depending on various factors. Especially when using teacups as wet tea leaves, the fluctuation range is large, so the amount of diluent added is controlled according to the moisture content of the wet tea leaves. It is preferable to do.

  (4) The method for producing a tea paste according to (3), wherein the moisture content of the wet tea leaf is measured using a non-contact moisture meter by near infrared spectroscopy.

  The means for measuring the moisture content of the wet tea leaves is not particularly limited, but if a non-contact moisture meter using near infrared spectroscopy is used, the moisture content of the wet tea leaves introduced into the adjustment tank can be easily and quickly determined. It can be calculated. For this reason, in (4), the addition amount of the diluent can be controlled simply, quickly, and with high accuracy.

  (5) The method for producing a tea paste according to any one of (1) to (4), wherein an additive is added to the wet tea leaves in the concentration adjusting step.

  In the concentration adjusting step, the quality of the tea paste produced can be maintained or / and homogenized by adding an additive such as an antioxidant to the wet tea leaves. Particularly preferred additives include polyphenols having antibacterial and antioxidant effects, and vitamin C having an antioxidant action, and these may be used alone or in combination. In particular, if catechins are added as polyphenols, not only the quality of the tea paste can be maintained, but also the quality can be homogenized by adjusting the catechin content of the tea paste. Further, by using an antioxidant water containing an antioxidant gas as a diluent, it is possible to both dilute wet tea leaves and add additives.

  Here, the “antioxidant gas” means a gas having an action of reducing oxygen, for example, a reducing gas such as hydrogen gas or carbon monoxide gas, and an inert gas. In the present specification, “inert gas” means a gas that hardly causes an oxidation reaction among chemical reactions, and is not limited to a rare gas group element such as helium or argon, but includes nitrogen gas and carbon dioxide gas. “Antioxidant water” means water containing such an antioxidant gas, and particularly preferred examples include carbonated water, nitrogen-containing water, and hydrogen-containing water.

  As the addition amount of the additive, for polyphenols, a range in which the concentration of polyphenols in diluted tea leaves is 0.4 to 0.8% by weight is preferable, and for vitamin C, 0.05 to 0 with respect to diluted tea leaves. .1% by weight is preferred. Moreover, about antioxidant water, it is preferable that antioxidant gas is contained about 10-100 mg / L, and it is more preferable that pH is 3-5.

  (6) The method for producing a tea paste according to any one of (1) to (5), wherein in the concentration adjustment step, microbubble generation means is provided in the adjustment tank and an antioxidant gas is blown.

  When using antioxidant water as a diluting solution, antioxidant water prepared by dissolving an antioxidant gas in water in advance may be introduced into the adjustment tank, but tap water that does not contain antioxidant gas, etc. May be used as a diluting solution, and microbubble generation means may be provided in the adjustment tank to make the antioxidant gas into fine bubbles and added to the fluid in the adjustment tank. In the present invention, since the roughly crushed tea leaves are circulated and held in the adjustment tank, antioxidant gas microbubbles adhere to the tea leaves to improve dissolution efficiency, and oxygen on the surface of the tea leaves is reduced. As a result, the effect of preventing oxidation and the growth of aerobic microorganisms can be enhanced.

  (7) The coarsely crushed tea leaves that are circulated from the circulation step to the adjustment tank of the concentration adjustment step and contain solid matter having an average particle diameter of 1000 to 5000 μm are discharged from the adjustment tank and finely crushed to give a paste-like tea paste The method for producing a tea paste according to any one of (1) to (6), further including a pasting step for obtaining the above.

  In the present invention, by providing a pasting step for further finely crushing roughly crushed coarsely crushed tea leaves, tea pastes with different particle sizes can be produced according to the intended use of the tea paste. In particular, in the pasting step, when performing a two-stage process in which a fine crushing process by an inline-type pump with a mill equipped with a stirring blade with a cutter and a wet crushing process by a grinder equipped with a grindstone are performed in this order, A smooth tea paste having a particle size of 100 μm or less can be obtained.

  (8) The method for producing a tea paste according to (7), further including a sterilization step of sterilizing the tea paste obtained in the pasting step.

  The preservability of the tea paste produced by sterilizing the tea paste in the sterilization process can be improved. The sterilization method used in the sterilization step is not particularly limited, but it is preferable to use heat sterilization that can be sterilized easily and reliably in a short time. In particular, the amount of energy required for heating can be reduced by carrying out a wet grinding process before the sterilization process and heating the tea paste to about 30-70 ° C. with frictional heat, and then quickly performing the sterilization process. ,preferable.

  (9) The method for producing a tea paste according to (8), further including a filling step of filling the packaging container in a sterile state with the tea paste sterilized in the sterilization step.

  In the present invention, the tea paste sterilized in the sterilization process is filled in a packaging container sterilized under aseptic conditions. Preservability can be further enhanced by filling the packaging container with sterilized tea paste.

  (10) The method for producing a tea paste according to any one of (1) to (9), wherein the wet tea leaves are teacups.

  As the wet tea leaves, it is preferable to use tea bowls obtained by immersing dry tea leaves such as sencha, gyokuro, bancha, black tea, and oolong tea in hot water to produce a tea beverage. In the tea bowl, polyphenols of about 60 to 80% of tea are left, while the amount of caffeine is reduced. For this reason, teacup paste produced from teacups can be reused for a wide range of uses because caffeine is reduced while preservability is enhanced by polyphenols.

  According to the present invention, the wet tea leaves that have been softened by immersing in a liquid in advance are crushed while circulating, thereby preventing crushing troubles due to fiber entanglement and the like, and the tea leaves are gradually fragmented to prepare the particle size. Tea paste can be obtained. Further, according to the present invention, a tea paste whose quality is homogenized can be efficiently produced with an apparatus having a simple configuration, so that a high quality tea paste can be provided at low cost.

  Hereinafter, the present invention will be specifically described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a tea paste manufacturing apparatus (hereinafter simply referred to as “manufacturing apparatus”) 11 for carrying out the method of manufacturing a tea paste according to the present invention.

  The production apparatus 11 includes an adjustment tank 21, a rough crusher 31, a fine crusher 41, a grinder 51, a sterilizer 61, and a filling machine 71. The adjustment tank 21 and the rough crusher 31 are the first connection pipe 35, the rough crusher 31 and the fine crusher 41 are the second connection pipe 45, and the fine crusher 41 and the grinder 51 are the third connection pipe 55. Thus, the attritor 51 and the sterilizer 61 are connected to each other in series by a fourth connecting pipe 65, and the sterilizer 61 and the filling machine 71 are connected to each other in series by a fifth connecting pipe 75.

  The adjustment tank 21 and the coarse crusher 31 are also connected by a circulation path 36, the first connecting pipe 35 is connected to the outlet side of the adjustment tank 21 and the inlet side of the rough crusher 31, and the circulation path 36 is connected to the adjustment tank. The inlet side of 21 and the outlet side of the rough crusher 31 are connected. The adjustment tank 21 is provided with a stirrer 23, a tea leaf path 25, a diluent path 26 and an additive path 27 are further connected, and the additive path 27 is connected to an additive storage tank 22.

  The rough crusher 31 includes a rotating blade (hereinafter referred to as “crushing blade”) 32 with a cutter inside a cylindrical housing 30, a plate 34 provided with a slit provided on the back surface thereof, and a rotating blade for pressure feeding. (Hereinafter referred to as “transfer blade”) 33. The fine crusher 41 is configured by an in-line mill pump including a crushing blade 42 and a crushing mill 43 inside the housing 40. A plate 44 having slits is provided on the back surface of the crushing blade 42 of the fine crusher 41.

  Next, as a first embodiment of the present invention, a method for producing a paste-like teacup paste by crushing teacups as wet tea leaves using the production apparatus 11 will be described.

  First, carbonated water as a diluent is introduced into the adjustment tank 21 from the diluent path 26 in advance. When the amount of liquid in the adjustment tank 21 reaches a certain amount, the stirrer 23 is operated. Next, the carbonated water sent out from the adjustment tank 21 by operating the rough crusher 31 is circulated and fluidized in the adjustment tank 21 via the circulation path 36. In this manner, the tea bowl is introduced from the tea leaf path 25 into the adjustment tank 21 in a state where the carbonated water is fluidized. The teacup is stirred and mixed with carbonated water in a fluidized state by being introduced into the adjustment tank 21, and oxygen on the surface of the teacup is removed by contact with the carbonated water, so that the growth of germs is suppressed.

  Prior to the introduction of the wet tea leaves, a half amount of the diluted liquid is introduced into the adjustment tank 21, and a predetermined amount of the wet tea leaves are gradually supplied to the adjustment tank 21 over about 5 to 10 minutes. preferable. In the adjustment tank 21, a dilute solution and / or an appropriate amount so that the solid matter concentration of the fluid (mixture of diluted tea leaves and coarsely crushed tea leaves) in the tank is 5 to 10% by weight, preferably 7 to 8% by weight. Add wet tea leaves to adjust the concentration. As described above, the carbonated water introduced into the adjustment tank 21 in advance is fluidized, and the solid matter concentration of the fluid in the adjustment tank 21 is set within a predetermined range, so that the fluid in the adjustment tank 21 is smoothed. It can be sent to the rough crusher 31.

  Here, if a non-contact type moisture content meter (not shown) using near-infrared spectroscopy is provided in the tea leaf path 25, the moisture content of the wet tea leaf introduced into the adjustment tank 21 is quickly measured, and the concentration It is possible to quickly determine the addition amount of the diluent necessary for the adjustment and control the addition amount of the dilution water with high accuracy. Moreover, you may add antioxidants and preservatives, such as vitamin C, polyphenols, and sorbic acid, from the additive storage tank 22 as an additive. Catechin, which is a kind of polyphenols, is a component that is originally contained in tea leaves and has antioxidation and antibacterial effects, and wet tea leaves introduced into the adjustment tank 21 by adding catechins as additives (particularly, Since the quality of the tea paste produced by adjusting the catechin content of tea bowl) having a large component variation can be homogenized, it is particularly preferable as an additive.

  In this embodiment, carbonated water that is antioxidant water is used as the diluent, and carbonated water in which carbonic acid is dissolved in advance is introduced into the adjustment tank 21. Microbubble generating means (not shown) is added to the adjustment tank 21. The refined carbon dioxide gas may be fed into the adjustment tank 21 and dissolved in a diluent such as tap water. Since the crushed tea leaves are higher in viscosity than the diluted liquid and have a high microbubble retention effect, it is preferable to blow the microbubbles in a state where the crushed tea leaves are contained in the fluid in the adjustment tank 21. The blowing amount of the antioxidant gas is preferably about 1 to 10% by volume with respect to the diluent.

  In the adjustment tank 21, the above-described concentration adjustment step is performed, and as necessary, the adjustment of the wet tea leaf components and the quality maintenance process are performed by adding an additive or blowing an antioxidant gas. Next, the mixture (diluted tea leaves) of the diluted liquid and wet tea leaves sent out from the adjustment tank 21 is introduced into the rough crusher 31 through the first connection pipe 35 and is roughly crushed in the rough crushing step. Specifically, since the rough crusher 31 has crushing blades 32, diluted tea leaves introduced into the case 30 of the rough crusher 31 are crushed by the crushing blades 32 by moving inside the case 30. . In addition, the board 34 with a slit is provided behind the crushing blade | wing 32, and a diluted tea leaf is crushed in the form dammed by this board 34. The roughly crushed tea cake (coarse crushed tea leaves) is sent out from the coarse crusher 31 by the transfer blade 33 and circulated to the adjustment tank 21 through the circulation path 36.

  In this embodiment, roughly crushed tea leaves that have been circulated through the coarse crushing and circulation process and untreated wet tea leaves (tea bowls) introduced from the tea leaf path 25 are introduced into the adjustment tank 21 and subjected to a circulation treatment. As a result, the solid concentration gradually increases, and the particle size of the solid gradually decreases. When the adjustment tank 21 is used in a batch system, the introduction of the teacup is stopped when the amount of the fluid in the adjustment tank 21 reaches a predetermined value, and the diluent is adjusted so that the solid substance concentration of the fluid quantity is within the above range. The second connecting pipe connected in the middle of the circulation path 36 when the coarse crushing process and the circulation process are continued while the introduction amount of the fluid is stopped or continued, and the particle size of the fluid in the adjustment tank 21 is substantially homogenized. From 45, the fluid in the adjustment tank 21 is sent to the fine crusher 41.

  The fine crusher 41 is provided with a plate 44 with slits behind the crushing blade 42, and the coarsely crushed tea leaves are further finely crushed in a form that is dammed up by this plate 44. The size of the slit of the plate 44 is preferably about 500 to 2000 μm. In order to prevent clogging of fibers and the like inside the fine crusher 41, the introduction speed of the coarsely crushed tea leaves into the fine crusher 41 is set at the rough crusher 31. Reduce compared to the rate of introduction of diluted tea leaves.

  In the fine crusher 41, the coarsely crushed tea leaves are further finely crushed to obtain finely crushed tea leaves having an average particle size of 500 μm or less. In this embodiment, the finely crushed tea leaves are ground by a grinder 51 such as a wet mill equipped with a rotating grindstone to obtain a teacup paste having an average particle size of 50 to 100 μm. In the pasting process by the grinder 51, the finely crushed tea leaves are heated by frictional heat, and the temperature rises by about 20 to 40 ° C. Therefore, in the present invention, the tea paste is sent to the sterilizer 61, and a sterilization step is performed in which the sterilization is performed by heat sterilization at 60 to 95 ° C, preferably 85 to 90 ° C for 30 minutes or more, or 140 ° C for 2 minutes. A sterilized packaging container is filled using a filling machine 71 provided at the subsequent stage of the sterilized teacup paste sterilizer 61. Thus, by sterilizing the teacup paste and further filling the packaging container, it can be stored for a long period of time, and the teacup paste can be easily transported and stored.

  The manufacturing apparatus 11 may include a roughly crushed tea leaf storage tank for storing roughly crushed tea leaves, a finely crushed tea leaf storage tank for storing finely crushed tea leaves, a paste storage tank for storing teacup paste, and the like (none of which are shown). Good. In this case, the roughly crushed tea leaf storage tank is connected to the second connection pipe 45, the finely crushed tea leaf storage tank is connected to the third connection pipe 55, and the paste reservoir is connected to the fourth connection pipe 65. By providing such a storage tank, slurry or paste-like material crushed into various particle sizes can be taken out. In addition, it is preferable to prevent the quality deterioration of the storage of each storage tank by filling each storage tank with an antioxidant gas.

[Example]
As an example, an experiment using the manufacturing apparatus 11 shown in FIG. 1 was performed. The adjustment tank 21 has a capacity of 250 L, a cutter pump (manufactured by Komatsu Zenoah Co., Ltd.) as the coarse crusher 31, an in-line mill (manufactured by Koki Kogyo Co., Ltd.) as the fine crusher 41, and an ultrafine grinder having a grindstone as the grinder 51. (Trade name “Supermass colloider” manufactured by Masuko Sangyo Co., Ltd.), a heat sterilizer as the sterilizer 61, and a bag-in-box (BIB) type aseptic filler as the filling machine 71 were used.

  The adjustment tank 21 is charged with 100 L of carbonated water (carbonic acid concentration 0.01 vol%, pH 4) as a diluent in advance, and the crude crusher 31 is operated to flow the diluent. 100 L of tea bowl (moisture content of 80% by weight) generated in the manufacturing process of green tea beverage was introduced over 5 to 10 minutes. While adjusting the addition of carbonated water from the dilution liquid passage 26 to the adjustment tank 21 as appropriate, the fluid in the adjustment tank 21 is sent to the rough crusher 31 at a supply rate of 50 L / min, and is roughly crushed by the rough crusher 31 It was circulated in the tank 21. The supply of the teacup and diluent to the adjustment tank 21 was stopped when the teacup introduction amount reached 100 kg and the dilution solution introduction amount 120 L, and further coarse crushing and circulation treatment for 20 minutes were performed. By the above treatment, roughly crushed tea leaves having a solid concentration of 9% by weight and an average particle size of 2000 μm were obtained.

  Next, the coarsely crushed tea leaves were sent from the adjustment tank 21 to the coarsely pulverized machine 31 and further passed through the finely pulverized machine 41 at a supply rate of 5 L / min to obtain finely crushed tea leaves having an average particle diameter of 500 μm. This was supplied to the grinder 51 at a supply rate of 2 L / min to obtain a tea paste having an average particle size of 50 μm and a temperature of 45 ° C. The obtained teacup paste was heated at 85 ° C. for 30 minutes with a sterilizer 61, and filled into a vinyl packaging container with a metering filler 71 under aseptic conditions via a quantitative sanitary pump.

  INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention can be used for producing a tea paste that can be used as a food additive or the like, and in particular, can be used to make a tea cake into a paste.

It is a schematic diagram of the tea paste manufacturing apparatus used in order to implement this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 Tea paste production apparatus 21 Adjustment tank 23 Stirrer 31 Coarse crusher 41 Fine crusher 51 Grinding machine 61 Sterilizer 71 Filling machine

Claims (10)

A concentration adjusting step for obtaining a diluted tea leaf by introducing a wet tea leaf obtained by immersing the tea leaf in a liquid into a regulating tank equipped with a stirrer and mixing with a diluent to adjust a solid concentration,
A coarse crushing step of sending the diluted tea leaves obtained in the concentration adjustment step from the adjustment tank and roughly crushing them through a coarse crusher,
A circulation step of circulating the coarsely crushed tea leaves that have passed through the coarse crusher in the coarse crushing step to the adjustment tank in the concentration adjusting step.   2. The method for producing a tea paste according to claim 1, wherein in the concentration adjustment step, the wet tea leaves are introduced in a state in which a diluent is introduced into the adjustment tank and fluidized in advance.   The method for producing a tea paste according to claim 1 or 2, wherein, in the concentration adjustment step, the moisture content of the wet tea leaves is measured to control the amount of the diluted solution.   The method for producing a tea paste according to claim 3, wherein the moisture content of the wet tea leaf is measured using a non-contact moisture meter according to near infrared spectroscopy.   The method for producing a tea paste according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein an additive is added to the wet tea leaves in the concentration adjusting step.   The method for producing a tea paste according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein in the concentration adjusting step, microbubble generating means is provided in the adjusting tank and an antioxidant gas is blown.   Paste which is circulated from the circulation step to the adjustment tank of the concentration adjustment step and which contains the coarsely crushed tea leaves containing solids having an average particle size of 1000 to 5000 μm is discharged from the adjustment tank and finely crushed to obtain a paste-like tea paste The manufacturing method of the tea paste in any one of Claim 1 to 6 which further includes a conversion process.   The method for producing a tea paste according to claim 7, further comprising a sterilization step of sterilizing the tea paste obtained in the pasting step.   The method for producing a tea paste according to claim 8, further comprising a filling step of filling the packaging container in a sterile state with the tea paste sterilized in the sterilization step.   The method for producing a tea paste according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein the wet tea leaves are teacups.

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