JP2016021873A - Fermentation apparatus for producing black tea - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a novel fermentation apparatus for producing black tea capable of uniformizing a fermentation state of tea leaves placed on a tea leaf case arranged in multiple stages inside a housing.SOLUTION: Each shower nozzle 4 to be disposed in a housing 2 is disposed between a housing 2 inner peripheral wall surface and a tea leaf case 3 vertically in multiple stages. Further, a support shower nozzle 5 is disposed on a furthermore lower side portion than the tea leaf case 3 on the lowermost stage on the housing 2 inner peripheral wall surface.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to an apparatus for producing black tea, and in particular, relates to a fermentation apparatus for producing black tea capable of homogenizing fermentation conditions.

Typical teas for beverages include green tea that completely suppresses fermentation, black tea that promotes fermentation, and semi-fermented oolong tea, and in recent years, black tea using domestic tea leaves has become widespread.
As such domestically produced tea leaves, tea leaves for green tea are often used, and such tea leaves have low tannin content and low oxidase activity. For this reason, the quality of the fermentation method is a major factor in determining the quality, and the present applicant has already developed and implemented Patent No. 3546312 “Method for Fermenting Tea Leaves in the Production Process of Tea” (Patent Document 1). , Offering high quality tea to the market.
In this method, as shown in FIG. 5, a tray-shaped tea leaf case 3 'is arranged in a casing 2' that can be in a sealed environment so that tea leaves can be arranged in multiple upper and lower stages. Hot water is ejected from the shower nozzle 4 'to promote fermentation of the tea leaves L with the inside of the housing 2' as an environment of appropriate temperature and humidity.

And by such a method, although the tea of excellent quality can be produced and high evaluation in the market is accompanied, this inventor discovered the room for the improvement in the said method in aiming at further quality improvement.
That is, in the above method, the tea leaves L are placed in a shelf shape up and down, so that the temperature and humidity conditions in the vertical direction in the housing 2 'are difficult to be completely uniformed. By swapping 3 'up and down, the result was an even situation.
Naturally, such a situation would make the work process excessive, and the color development would be different due to a shift in work timing, individual differences in tea leaves, and the like, which tended to cause quality deterioration.
Of course, according to the method of the above-mentioned patent relating to the development of the present inventor, the uniformity of the processing environment in the housing 2 ′ is considerably improved, which is sufficiently satisfactory. The fermentation situation was slightly different, and it was preferable to replace the tea leaf case 3 'in order to produce high quality black tea.

Japanese Patent No. 3546312

  The present invention has been made in view of such a background, and is a fermentation for black tea production that can make the fermentation state of tea leaves placed on a tea leaf case arranged in multiple stages inside the casing uniform. The development of equipment was a technical issue.

  That is, the fermenting apparatus for producing black tea according to claim 1 is a casing capable of forming a sealed space inside, a tea leaf case disposed in multiple stages inside the casing, and a shower nozzle disposed in the casing. In the apparatus for placing the tea leaves to be processed in the tea leaf case, and ejecting hot water from the nozzle in a shower-like manner, and making the inside of the housing suitable for fermentation, the shower nozzle includes an inner peripheral wall surface of the housing It is arranged in multiple upper and lower stages between the tea leaf case, and further, a support shower nozzle is arranged in a portion below the lowermost tea leaf case on the inner peripheral wall surface of the housing. It consists of.

  Moreover, in addition to the said requirements, as for the fermentation apparatus for tea manufacture of Claim 2, as for the said assistance shower nozzle, an ejection direction is set so that it may go to a center from several wall surfaces, and the ejection direction for each surface is in an up-down direction. It is characterized by being different.

Furthermore, in addition to the above requirements, the fermenting apparatus for producing black tea according to claim 3 is configured so that the amount of hot water or steam ejected from the shower nozzle and the temperature is 80% within 30 minutes from the start. It is characterized by being set to be.
The above problems can be solved by the means described in the claims.

  First, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the atmosphere near the bottom of the housing, which tends to be low in temperature and humidity, can be brought into a desired high temperature and high humidity state. For this reason, the atmosphere in a housing | casing can be made into the temperature and humidity suitable for fermentation equally, and high quality black tea can be manufactured by implement | achieving the suitable fermentation state of the tea leaf in the whole region in a housing | casing.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, the jetted hot water does not collide with each other, and the atmosphere near the bottom of the housing can be more effectively brought into a desired high temperature and high humidity state.

  Furthermore, according to the invention described in claim 3, it is possible to carry out the fermentation of tea leaves with a fermentation apparatus for producing black tea with high efficiency.

It is a perspective view which shows the fermentation apparatus for black tea manufacture of this invention. It is a front view which sees through and shows the fermentation apparatus for black tea manufacture of this invention. It is the top view and front view which show the arrangement | positioning aspect of a support shower nozzle. It is a graph which shows the change of the temperature at the time of start-up operation, and humidity. It is a front view which sees through and shows the existing fermentation apparatus in which the assistance shower nozzle is not provided.

  Although the best form of the fermentation apparatus for tea manufacture of this invention is as showing below, it is also possible to add a change suitably with respect to this form within the scope of the technical idea of this invention.

  Hereinafter, the present invention will be specifically described with reference to the drawings. In this description, first, the configuration of the fermentation apparatus for producing black tea of the present invention will be described, and the method of the present invention will be described together with the operating state of the apparatus.

  In FIG. 1, what is indicated by reference numeral 1 is a fermentation apparatus for tea production (hereinafter referred to as a fermentation apparatus) according to the present invention, and this apparatus comprises a casing 2 capable of forming a sealed space inside, and the casing. A tea leaf case 3 disposed in a multi-stage inside the body 2 and a shower nozzle 4 disposed in the housing 2 are provided. Tea leaves L are placed on the tea leaf case 3 and hot water is showered from the shower nozzle 4. It is an apparatus which makes the inside of the housing | casing 2 the temperature and humidity suitable for fermentation by making it spray.

First, the housing 1 has a heat insulating structure with an appropriate heat insulating material, and an opening / closing means such as a door 20 is provided on the front surface of the housing 1 so that the tea leaf case 3 can be taken in and out. Has been.
The tea leaf case 3 is accommodated in a rack 21 in which case receivers 22 are provided in a multistage shape. In this embodiment, the tea leaf case 3 is accommodated in the rack 21 in seven steps.
A pan 23 for storing hot water ejected from the shower nozzle 4 is provided at the bottom of the casing 1, and a drain port 24 is formed at the bottom of the pan 23.
The rack 21 is configured by combining steel materials made of a metal material such as stainless steel as an example, and the space between the case receivers 22 at each stage is open. Note that the opening may be closed by a rack cover 25 having air permeability.

  Further, the tea leaf case 2 is a bottomed box-shaped member having an upper surface formed of wood as an example. In addition, you may comprise the bottom face of the tea leaf case 2 by air permeable members, such as a net | network (cotton, a chemical fiber, etc.).

The shower nozzle 4 is for ejecting hot water or steam, and is provided between the inner peripheral wall surface of the housing 2 and the rack 21. In this embodiment, the shower nozzles 4 are provided at six places as an example.
In addition, as the shower nozzle 4, what spouts hot water or a vapor | steam in a spray form, or what drops is applicable.

Further, the support shower nozzle 5 which is a characteristic configuration of the present invention is disposed in a portion of the inner peripheral wall surface of the housing 2 below the lowermost tea leaf case 3, and in this embodiment, resin is used as an example. Or what formed the jet nozzle 51 in the pipe line which uses a metal as a raw material is employ | adopted.
Further, the support shower nozzle 5 is provided along a plurality of inner peripheral wall surfaces of the housing 2, and in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3A as an example, pipe lines are provided along the three wall surfaces. In addition to being provided, a jet outlet 51 is formed in each pipeline.
Further, such a spout 51 is set such that the spout direction is set so as to go to the lower surface side of the lowermost tea leaf case 3, and the spout direction for each surface is set to be different in the vertical direction. It is set so that the hot water jetted out does not collide with each other.
The support shower nozzle 5 may be provided on four inner peripheral wall surfaces of the housing 2 as shown in FIG. 3B, or may be provided along any two surfaces or any one surface.

A pipe 6 is connected to the shower nozzle 4 and the support shower nozzle 5, and the pipe 6 passes through the housing 2 and is connected to a temperature controller 8 and a circulation pump 7, and further, a drain formed in the pan 22. By connecting to the port 24, a circulation path of hot water or steam is formed.
In addition, although the said temperature regulator 8 uses an appropriate | suitable apparatus according to the fluid ejected from the said shower nozzle 4 and the assistance shower nozzle 5, such as a steam generator, a heater, and a water heater, in this Example, it circulates warm water. A water heater is used for this purpose.

  Furthermore, in this embodiment, a fan 9 is provided in the casing 2 in order to convectively disperse a high temperature atmosphere that tends to gather in the upper space inside the casing 2.

The fermentation apparatus 1 for producing black tea of the present invention has a specific structure as described above, and is used as follows to ferment tea leaves.
First, at the start of the work, tea leaves L (tea leaves for green tea) are uniformly spread on the tea leaf case 3 to a thickness of about 40 mm to 70 mm, and the tea leaves L are deflated for 5 hours or more with cold air after being picked as an example. After that, the twisting process is performed for about 1 hour and 30 minutes, and the thawing and sieving processes are completed.
The tea leaves for green tea have a low tannin content and low oxidase activity, so the fermentation temperature in the conventional black tea production method (such as the orthodox production method) does not increase the leaf temperature, and the fermentation is difficult to proceed. Expression of tea-specific flavor, light blue and the like was difficult.
The tea leaf case 3 in which the tea leaves L are accommodated is installed in a rack 21 in a multi-stage shape (seven steps in this embodiment), the door 20 is closed, and the inside of the housing 2 is made a sealed space.

Next, the temperature regulator 8 is set to an appropriate value and operated, and hot water having a desired temperature is caused to flow through the pipe 6 by the circulation pump 7 and supplied to the shower nozzle 4 and the support shower nozzle 5.
When hot water is supplied into the housing 2 by the shower nozzle 4, the atmosphere in the housing 2 is heated and humidified, and then accumulated in a pan 23 located at the bottom of the housing 2.
Further, the hot water accumulated in the pan 23 reaches the temperature adjuster 8 again from the drain port 24 formed at the bottom of the pan 23, and is heated again here, and then returned from the shower nozzle 4 and the support shower nozzle 5 to the casing. 2 will be supplied.

At this time, in the fermentation apparatus 1 for producing black tea according to the present invention, the support shower nozzle 5 is arranged on the inner peripheral wall surface of the casing 2 below the lowermost tea leaf case 3, and the support shower nozzle 5 is provided. The jet outlet 51 of the nozzle 5 has a jet direction set so as to go to the lower surface side of the lowermost tea leaf case 3, and the atmosphere near the bottom of the casing 2, which tends to be low in temperature and humidity, can be obtained at a desired high temperature and high temperature. It becomes possible to be in a wet state.
In particular, during the start-up operation of the fermentation apparatus 1, as shown by a graph in FIG. 4, a desired high-temperature and high-humidity state is achieved in a short time as compared with an apparatus not provided with the support shower nozzle 5 shown in FIG. It has been confirmed that.
The ejection amount and ejection temperature of the shower nozzle 4 and the support shower nozzle 5 are set so that the humidity of the atmosphere in the housing 2 becomes 80% within 30 minutes from the start. For this reason, it becomes possible to implement the fermentation of the tea leaves L by the fermentation apparatus 1 for producing black tea with high efficiency.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 3, the jet nozzle 51 in the support shower nozzle 5 is set so that the jet direction of each surface is different in the vertical direction. For this reason, the hot water ejected from the ejection ports 51 of the respective support shower nozzles 5 does not collide with each other, and the atmosphere near the bottom of the housing 2 can be more effectively brought into a desired high-temperature and high-humidity state. It can be done.

Incidentally, the fermentation conditions in the fermentation apparatus 1 when Yabukita tea is used as the raw tea leaves L are a temperature of 20 ° C. to 36 ° C., preferably 25 ° C. to 36 ° C. The humidity is as high as possible, preferably 90% to 100%.
And by maintaining the fermentation conditions for about 2 hours by circulating hot water as described above, the content of tannin is low and the activity of oxidase is low. As a result, it is possible to make a tea with a unique flavor and light blue of black tea.

In addition, by providing a sensor by an appropriate means such as a thermocouple, a resistance temperature detector, a thermostar, etc. in the housing 2, and controlling the operation of the temperature regulator 8 by the detection signal thereby to change the temperature of the hot water, A configuration in which the temperature inside the housing 2 is set to a desired value can also be adopted.
Further, a waterproof heater may be provided in the pan 23 to prevent the temperature of the warm water sent to the temperature regulator 8 from decreasing.
Furthermore, by providing a steam generator and an ejector as appropriate, it is possible to supply steam and hot water into the housing 2.
Furthermore, in the above examples, black tea was made using green tea leaves as the raw tea leaves L. However, the present invention is applicable to the production of semi-fermented tea (oolong tea, bun tea) that is fermented in the tea making process as black tea. It is also possible to apply the fermentation apparatus 1.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 (For tea manufacture) Fermenter 2 Case 20 Door 21 Rack 22 Case receptacle 23 Bread 24 Drain port 25 Rack cover 3 Tea leaf case 4 Shower nozzle 5 Support shower nozzle 51 Spout 6 Piping 7 Circulation pump 8 Temperature controller 9 Fan L tea leaves

Claims (3)

A housing that can be used as a sealed space inside, a tea leaf case that is arranged in multiple stages inside the housing, and a shower nozzle that is arranged in the housing, is loaded with tea leaves that are processed into the tea leaf case, In the apparatus in which hot water is ejected from the nozzle like a shower and the inside of the housing is suitable for fermentation,
The shower nozzles are arranged in multiple stages between the inner peripheral wall surface of the casing and the tea leaf case, and further, a support shower is provided at a position below the lowermost tea leaf case on the inner peripheral wall surface of the casing. A fermentation apparatus for producing black tea, wherein a nozzle is provided.
2. The fermentation for producing black tea according to claim 1, wherein the support shower nozzle has an ejection direction set so as to go from the plurality of wall surfaces toward the center, and the ejection direction of each surface is varied in the vertical direction. apparatus.
  The amount and temperature of hot water or steam ejected from the shower nozzle are set so that the humidity of the atmosphere in the housing becomes 80% within 30 minutes from the start. Fermentation equipment for tea production.

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