Production of Japanese Green Tea-Sencha in Vietnam

Production of Japanese Green Tea - Sencha 

Green Leaf Pre-Server :

Description : Because fresh tea leaves brought to the factory can not be processed all at once, they are stored in the storage equipment named Green Leaf Pre-server. A fan regularly blows air to the leaves to keep quality at its best.

Tea Steaming Machine :

Description : The steaming process has two purposes; A) to stop activity of oxidase of the tea leaves and B) to choose which type of green tea to produce depending on length of steaming, whether regular green tea or deep-steamed tea. There are two steaming machines; the revolving steaming machine and the belt- conveyer steaming machine. The tea leaves discharged from the steaming machine are transferred to the Primary Tea Rolling Dryer after cooled to room temperature. Time : 1-2 minutes

Primary Tea Rolling Dryer :

Description : With heated air blown into this dryer, tea leaves are dried while the dryer's spindle with the hand-shaped parts is rolling to stir the leaves. During this process, the tea leaves are dried up to the point that some pressure can be placed on them in the next dryer process. This process consists of two major operations. One is the tea scattering dryer process which quickly removes moisture from the surface of the tea leaves. The other is the primary tea rolling dryer process which takes out moisture inside of the leaves. Time : 48 minutes Leaf moisture : 76 %

Tea Roller :

Description : As rolled under pressure of someweight, moisture remained in the center of leaf tissues come out to the surface. Moisture level varies for different parts of a leaf or one leaf to another leaf at the end of the primary tea rolling dryer process. During this tea roller process, the remaining moisture in the leaves is distributed evenly. The process is conducted at the room temperature without heated air. Time : 24 minutes Leaf moisture : 50 %

Secondary Tea Rolling Dryer :

Description : The leaves are rolled in the revolving round dryer with spinning pedal and dried to the certain level becoming round shape. This is a pre-processing for the next step. It is very important to take out the leaves from the dryer at the same moisture level every time. Time : 40 minutes Leaf moisture : 30 %

Final Tea Rolling Dryer :

Description : After the tea leaves are taken out of the secondary tea rolling dryer, they are separated in small portions and placed in pots. Then they are gradually rolled to tiny round shape under some weight. Typical needle like shape of Japanese green tea is made during this process. And this truly depends on the tea production managers' skills. Very few moisture is left in the tea leaves after this process. Now our green tea is done. Time : 40 minutes

Tea Dryer :

Description : For storage, green tea has to be dried a little more after the final tea rolling dryer process. It is spread on the caterpillar and dried slowly. Time : 30 minutes Leaf moisture : 5-6 %

Tea Refining Machine :

Description : Taken out of the dryer, tea is shifted out to remove stems and other debris. The whole process which starts with steaming up to here takes approximately three hours. The tea is carefully refined again by wholesalers.

Tea Blender :

Description : Quality of the finished tea varies depending on difference in tea leaves and other factors. Different teas are blended together and temporally stored. Then samples from the storage is presented to a wholesaler by a middleman for price negotiation. The japanese green tea - sencha is packed in 30 kilogram unit are delivered to the wholesaler next morning.

The End