JPH0691789B2 - Tea making roasting device and roasting method - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a roasting apparatus and a roasting method for tea making by far infrared radiation heating.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In Japan, about 90% of tea production is green tea, and about 80% of green tea is green tea. The sencha manufacturing process is the same as the rough tea manufacturing process that is the previous process.
It is divided into a tea making process for finishing. The tea-making process is a heating process called "burning", and aims to bring out the flavor peculiar to tea by roasting tea leaves so that the moisture content of rough tea is lowered from 8-12% to 3-4%. . The flavor of tea is extracted by causing a heating reaction in a high molecular compound such as an amino acid or a polysaccharide contained in tea leaves.

Conventionally, in the tea making process, a hot air drying device using a gas as a heat source or a drum type heating device using a heated iron pipe has been widely used. However, in the tea making process, the setting of roasting conditions such as heating temperature and heating time is extremely delicate depending on the type of tea leaves, harvest time, production area, etc., and the value of the product greatly changes depending on the roasting conditions. In order to produce high quality tea in the conventional tea making process, craftsmanship based on many years of experience and intuition was required.

[0004] Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a roasting apparatus and a roasting method for tea making which can easily produce high quality tea without requiring delicate setting of roasting conditions. Another object of the present invention is to provide a roasting apparatus for tea making which can meet such a demand when a fine setting of the roasting condition is required.

[0005]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the roasting apparatus for tea making according to the present invention firstly has a planar shape that radiates far infrared rays above a rough tea feeder provided in multiple stages. A heater was provided. That is, by heating and drying crude tea with far-infrared radiation, high molecular compounds such as amino acids and polysaccharides contained in tea leaves are heated and reacted, and the flavor of tea is satisfactorily extracted. Furthermore, in the roasting device of the present invention, an ultrasonic humidifier was provided. Water content of 8-12% is 3 ~
By adding a small amount of water to the surface of rough tea for drying to 4%, the internal water content can be effectively extracted. Water easily absorbs far-infrared rays, which further enhances the extraction of flavor. In addition, the steam generated by ultrasonic waves has fine particles, which is optimal for extracting flavors, and the tea leaves are in a good dry state, so that high quality tea can be produced.

The ultrasonic humidifier may be built in the roasting apparatus main body or installed at the entrance of the hopper. In the former case, the rough tea supplied from the hopper is first conveyed by the feeder while being humidified by the ultrasonic humidifier (no heating is performed) and once taken out from the apparatus.
Next, humidified rough tea is supplied again from the hopper, and is conveyed by the feeder while radiating far infrared rays from the planar heater. In the latter case, crude tea is humidified by the ultrasonic humidifier when it is put into the hopper.

Furthermore, it is preferable that the roasting apparatus for tea making is provided with a temperature control means for the sheet heater, an elevating means for the sheet heater, or a feeding speed control means for the feeder. By these means, the roasting conditions can be delicately controlled, and by utilizing the craftsmanship that has been cultivated so far, it becomes possible to produce higher quality tea.

[0008]

EXAMPLES A roasting apparatus and a roasting method for tea making according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. The roasting device includes an ultrasonic humidifier 5 in the body frame 1, rough tea feeders 20, 30, 40 provided in three stages, and sheet heaters 25, 3.
5, 45, a cooling blower 50, and a hood 55 are installed. Further, a hopper 10,
A planar heater elevating mechanism 60 and an operation panel 70 are installed.

The ultrasonic humidifier 5 emits water as steam by ultrasonic energy, and adheres the moisture to the surface of the rough tea just before roasting. The reason why the raw tea is humidified immediately before roasting is to attract the water in the raw tea to the surface. That is, the moisture in the raw tea contains various substances and has a high concentration, and the humidified moisture permeates inside due to the difference in concentration. In this state, when far-infrared radiation heating described below is performed, far-infrared energy gives vibration to water molecules, the pores of the tea leaves open, the water evaporates without impairing the flavor, and the tea leaves evenly distribute the water molecules. Dry to the moist finish left.
Further, the reason why ultrasonic waves are used is that fine water molecules having high absorption efficiency of far infrared energy can be generated.

The hopper 10 is for quantitatively supplying rough tea, and is installed in the main body frame 1 so that the bottom supply port is located at the end of the first-stage feeder 20. The stirring rod 12 of the stirring device 11 is projected into the supply port of the hopper 10. The stirrer 11 reciprocally moves the stirring rod 12 in the lateral direction to prevent the raw tea from being clogged in the supply port in a bridge shape, and enables stable quantitative supply.

The feeders 20, 30 and 40 are installed in three stages with a plate-shaped member having guide plates provided on both sides slightly inclined forward (rough tea conveyance direction, right side in FIG. 1), and are respectively arranged in three stages. , 41 applies a vibration force in the front-back direction. The rough tea supplied in a constant amount from the hopper 10 is conveyed rightward in FIG. 1 while being inverted by the vibration and the inclination of the feeder 20, and is transferred step by step to the feeders 30 and 40 in the subsequent stages, from the tip of the feeder 40. Falls down. A container (not shown) is installed below the feeder 40 to store rough tea. The electromagnetic vibrators 21, 31, 41 can control the amplitude, and thereby the transport speed can be adjusted. Conveyance speed is for each feeder 20,3
It is preferable that it can be adjusted every 0, 40.

The sheet heaters 25, 35, 45 are far infrared radiation ceramic heaters composed of heat resistant ceramics and thermal spray coatings, and generate electromagnetic waves (far infrared rays) having a wavelength of 2 to 10 μm at 500 ° C. This planar heater 2
5, 35, 45 are fixed to the inner frame 65 and are located directly above the respective feeders 20, 30, 40 in parallel therewith. An elevating mechanism 60 is provided on the internal frame 65. The elevating mechanism 60 is configured such that the inner frame 65 is moved up and down by the rotation of a screw shaft provided vertically, and the screw shaft is driven manually or by a motor. The sheet heaters 25, 35, 45 move up and down together with the internal frame 65, and the sheet heaters 25, 35, 45 and the feeders 20, 30, 40
The distance between and is adjusted. With this, the planar heaters 25, 3
Far-infrared energy emitted from 5, 45 is the feeder 2
The amount of rough tea over 0, 30, 40 can be adjusted. Further, the amount of electric power supplied to the planar heaters 20, 30, 40 can also be controlled, so that the heating temperature and the radiation wavelength can be adjusted. Also in this case, the sheet heaters 25, 3
It is preferable to be able to adjust every 5,45.

The cooling blower 50 blows air to the tea leaves falling from the feeder 40 into a lower container (not shown) to rapidly cool the tea leaves.
Stop the process of flavoring and lock the flavor into the tea leaves. In this case, blowing nitrogen gas prevents oxidation of the tea leaves and further enhances the flavor. Further, the cooling blower 50 can adjust the air flow rate, and by changing the inclination of the adjacent hood 55, the air flow direction and the air flow rate can be finely adjusted.

On the operation panel 70, the control mechanism of this device is centrally arranged, and the power supply device is also incorporated in the planar heaters 20, 30, 40. Next, a roasting method having the above configuration will be described. First, the first step is a moisturizing step for rough tea. The rough tea used here is 8 in the previous step.
It has been lowered to a water content of ~ 12%. This rough tea is put into the hopper 10 and is supplied to the first-stage feeder 20 in a fixed amount while operating the stirring device 11. Electromagnetic vibrator 2
1, 31, 41 are all turned on, and rough tea is fed by the feeder 20,
It is conveyed to the right on 30, 40. At the same time, the ultrasonic humidifier 5 is operated to fill the inside of the main body frame 1 with ultrasonically generated steam. Steam is adhered to the surface of the conveyed rough tea, and the rough tea is temporarily collected in the container from the tip of the feeder 40.

Next, the second step, the roasting step, is carried out.
Here, the humidified rough tea is put into the hopper 10 again,
While the stirrer 11 is operated, a constant amount is supplied to the first-stage feeder 20. The electromagnetic vibrators 21, 31, 41 are all turned on, the planar heaters 25, 35, 45 are all turned on, and the blower 50 is also turned on. The ultrasonic humidifier 5 may be either on or off. If humidification is not sufficient depending on climatic conditions, dryness of rough tea, etc., turn on. Feeder 2
Far infrared rays are radiated from the sheet heaters 25, 35, 45 to the rough tea conveyed on the 0, 30, 40, and the rough tea absorbs this energy to be dried appropriately and the flavor is extracted. That is, the high molecular compounds of amino acids and polysaccharides contained in tea leaves are heated and reacted to bring out the flavor. Further, when the tea leaves are stored in the container from the third-stage feeder 40, they are rapidly cooled by the air blown from the blower 50, the progress of drying and flavoring is stopped, and the flavors are made into green tea. In this case, blowing nitrogen gas is preferable because oxidation of tea leaves is prevented.

Further, in the present embodiment, the elevating mechanism 60 elevates and lowers the sheet heaters 25, 35, 45, adjusts the temperature of the sheet heaters 25, 35, 45, and further the feeders 20, 30, 40. The roasting conditions can be finely adjusted by changing the conveying speed or adjusting the blown air amount and the wind direction of the blower 50, and the roasting technique and craftsman's intuition cultivated up to now can be greatly exerted.

In the roasting apparatus for tea making according to the present invention, the ultrasonic humidifier 5 may be installed at the entrance of the hopper 10. In this case, the humidifying step and the roasting step are carried out continuously. Of course, even in the device shown in FIG.
Even if the humidification process and the roasting process are not divided, that is, the first stage feeder 20 performs the humidification process and the second and third stage feeders 30 and 40 perform the roasting process continuously. Good.

Further, the elevating mechanism 60 is provided for each sheet heater 2.
The height of each of 5, 35 and 45 may be independently adjustable. Further, it is preferable that the main body frame 1 is filled with nitrogen gas because oxidation of tea leaves can be prevented. In addition, the roasting apparatus for tea making and the roasting method according to the present invention are not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments, and can be variously modified within the scope of the gist.

[0019]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, the rough tea humidified by the ultrasonic humidifier is heated and dried by far-infrared radiation, so that the tea leaves are uniformly and moderately dried. Therefore, it is possible to bring out the flavor satisfactorily, and it is possible to finish high-quality green tea without the need to set the delicate roasting conditions and the intuition that are conventionally required.

On the other hand, since the temperature control means of the sheet heater, the elevating means, and the feeding speed control means of the feeder are provided, it is possible to make the best use of the roasting technology cultivated in the past to finish higher quality green tea. Is.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing an embodiment of a roasting apparatus for tea making according to the present invention, partially cut away.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 ... Main body frame 5 ... Ultrasonic humidifier 10 ... Hopper 20, 30, 40 ... Feeder 21, 31, 41 ... Electromagnetic vibrator 25, 35, 45 ... Sheet heater 50 ... Quenching blower 60 ... Lifting mechanism 70 ... Operation panel

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A rough tea feeder provided in multiple stages, a sheet heater for radiating far infrared rays to the rough tea conveyed on the rough tea feeder, and supplying the rough tea to the first rough tea feeder. A roasting device for tea making, comprising: a hopper for heating and an ultrasonic humidifier. 2. The roasting apparatus for tea making according to claim 1, wherein an ultrasonic humidifier is built in the apparatus main body. 3. The roasting apparatus for tea making according to claim 1, wherein an ultrasonic humidifier is installed at the entrance of the hopper. 4. The roasting apparatus for tea making according to claim 1, further comprising a temperature control means for the planar heater. 5. The roasting apparatus for tea making according to claim 1, further comprising an elevating means for the planar heater. 6. The roasting apparatus for tea making according to claim 1, further comprising a feeding speed control means for the feeder. 7. A roasting method using a tea making roasting device having a built-in ultrasonic humidifier, wherein rough tea supplied from a hopper is conveyed by a feeder while being humidified by the ultrasonic humidifier. The roasting method is characterized in that the rough tea that has been humidified in step 1 is supplied again from the hopper and is conveyed by the feeder while emitting far infrared rays.