JPH0746962A - Method for drying rough tea - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain second-grade tea activating production of flavor ingredient, suppressing the volatilization and having high flavor by blowing steam or mist- like water from a blowing nozzle provided in the course of a hot air feed pipe of a hot air drier. CONSTITUTION:Steam or mist-like water is blown from a blowing nozzle 5 provided in the course of a hot air feed pipe 7 of a hot air drier 1 for rough tea into the feed pipe 7 and hot air having high humidity is fed to the hot air drier 1. Thereby, evaporation of water content and volatilization of a grassy- smelling odor ingredient contained in the rough tea are activated and volatilization of a flavor ingredient is suppressed while promoting production of the flavor ingredient.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for drying crude tea using a hot air dryer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art The process of manufacturing green tea consists of a tea making process and a finishing process. The tea making process is a process of processing fresh raw tea leaves collected in a tea garden into rough tea, and the finishing process is a process of processing the rough tea into a final product. In order to produce sencha, fresh raw tea leaves picked in a tea garden are first steam-heated, then the steamed tea leaves are roughly kneaded, followed by treatments such as middle kneading and kneading, and further water is added as necessary. Adjust to make it rough. Then, this crude tea is dried by applying hot air of 120 to 160 ° C. for about 20 to 30 and further subjected to sieving, combining and the like.

[0003]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A rough tea dryer is a dryer for drying rough tea and at the same time adding a roasting treatment to it.
Aracha is heated by hot air to evaporate the water contained therein to a predetermined degree of dryness, and evaporate and remove the blue-smelling component, and part of the umami component is converted to a flavor component.
This blue-smelling component evaporates when the tea temperature reaches 70 to 80 ° C or higher when the dry tea contains 30% or more of water. On the other hand, the flavor component is produced when the water content of rough tea drops to 25% or less and the tea temperature rises to about 100 ° C or more as the drying progresses. Therefore, if the temperature of the hot air sent to the dryer is increased, the blue odor of rough tea is reduced and the amount of flavor components produced is increased. However, since the flavor component becomes more volatile as the temperature of the hot air increases, there is a problem that when the temperature of the hot air is increased, the sencha loses its umami and flavor. When the temperature of the hot air is lowered, the volatilization of the flavor component is suppressed to that extent, but on the other hand, the amount of the flavor component produced is reduced, and further, there is a problem that a blue odor remains. It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for drying crude tea that activates the production of flavor components and suppresses the volatilization thereof to obtain sencha with high flavor.

[0004]

Means for Solving the Problems According to the present invention, moisture contained in rough tea is obtained by adding moisture to hot air sent from a hot air generator to obtain high-humidity hot air, which is sent to a dryer and applied to rough tea. The above-mentioned object is achieved by the method of evaporating the green tea and the evaporation of the green odor component and suppressing the volatilization of the flavor component to dry the crude tea. The effect is further enhanced by irradiating far-infrared rays while heating the rough tea while applying high-humidity hot air.

[0005]

[Function] Since hot air with a water content of 100 ° C or higher has a higher heat capacity, the hot water with a high water content should be applied to the water vapor and blue odor components that evaporate at a temperature of 100 ° C or lower. Evaporates more actively than applying hot air with a low water content. On the other hand, a flavor component that volatilizes vigorously at a temperature of 100 ° C. or higher is suppressed in volatilization as the water content of hot air increases.

[0006]

EXAMPLES The rough tea drying method according to the present invention will be specifically described below based on the illustrated examples. The figure shows an example of a tray conveyor hot air dryer. In the figure, reference numeral 1 is a drying chamber, and 2 is a hot air generator. Several stages of tray conveyors 3 are provided in the drying chamber 1, and a brewing hopper 4 for rough tea is formed on the upper surface of the drying chamber 1 so that when rough tea is fed into the drying chamber 1 from this The tea is first loaded on the uppermost tray conveyor 3. Then, this rough tea is transferred to the lower tray conveyor in sequence as the tray conveyor rotates while coming into contact with the hot air in the drying chamber 1, and finally dried green tea is taken out from the drying chamber 1. There is. The hot air generator 2 uses city gas, propane gas, or the like as fuel, and heats air by its combustion heat or mixes air with the combustion gas to make hot air of about 120 to 160 ° C. and the drying chamber 1 It is supposed to be sent to. or,
A blowing nozzle 5 is attached in the middle of the hot-air blowing pipe 7, and steam or mist-like water is blown into the hot-air blowing pipe 7 from here, so that the hot-air sent to the drying chamber 1 is not wet. In addition, the humidity of hot air is increased.

When dry-treating rough tea, the dryer is first driven. On the other hand, hot air of about 120 to 160 ° C. is generated from the hot air generator 2, and steam or mist-like water is blown into the hot air blowing pipe 7 from the blowing nozzle 5 to make the hot air have a predetermined humidity. Send to the drying room 1. And
Raw tea is quantitatively charged into the drying chamber 1 from the charging hopper 4. The rough tea is first placed on the uppermost tray conveyor 3 and is heated by contacting with the high-humidity hot air sent to the drying chamber 1. By this heating, the water contained in the rough tea evaporates and the rough tea is gradually dried, and the blue-smelling component is evaporated and removed. When the water content of crude tea becomes 30% or less, the evaporation rate of the water decreases, and when the tea temperature rises above 100 ° C, the raw tea will be in a state of being roasted and the flavor component will increase. Then, when the flavor component reaches a predetermined amount, the crude tea is discharged from the discharge port 6 and taken out as green tea.

[0008]

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY As described in detail above, the present invention is to add moisture to hot air sent from a hot air generator to obtain high-humidity hot air, which is sent to a dryer and applied to rough tea. Since the heat capacity is higher than that of low-temperature hot air, the efficiency of heating rough tea is high, the evaporation of water contained in the rough tea and the evaporation of the blue odor component are activated, and the rough tea is processed efficiently. There is an advantage that can be. Moreover, since the volatilization of the flavor component is suppressed by making the hot air have a high humidity, the temperature of the hot air can be increased accordingly. Therefore, the amount of the flavor component produced is increased and the volatilization thereof is reduced, so that it is possible to obtain sencha containing a large amount of the flavor component. In particular, high-humidity hot air suppresses volatilization of flavor components, so hot air with a higher temperature can be used, which further improves work efficiency and reduces the remaining amount of blue-smelling components, resulting in high-quality sencha. You can get it.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a vertical sectional view showing an example of a rough tea dryer to which the present invention is applied.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Drying Room 2 Hot Air Generator 3 Tray Conveyor 4 Input Hopper 5 Blow Nozzle 6 Discharge Port 7 Hot Air Intake Pipe 8 Blower

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A blowing nozzle is attached in the middle of a hot air blowing pipe of a hot air dryer, and steam or mist-like water is blown into the hot air blowing pipe while feeding the hot air into the drying chamber, and this is added to the hot air. Then, this hot air is made into high-humidity hot air, and by sending this high-humidity hot air to the dryer and applying it to rough tea,
A method for drying crude tea, characterized in that evaporation of water contained in crude tea and transpiration of components having a blue odor are activated, and evaporation of flavor components is suppressed to dry crude tea.