Green Tea Forum

Ian Bersten · Posted: Feb 23, 2008 5:39 pm Post subject: sencha tea

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb4333/is_200204/ai_n15142711

CHINA -- Imports of green tea into Japan in 2001 surged 23.8% from the previous year to 17,739 metric tons, marking the third consecutive year the figure has hit a record high, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported. As much as 90% of the imports originated in China, with the average price standing at 300-500 yen per kilogram, 80% lower than that for green tea produced in Japan, stated the Nikkei Weekly recently.

Ian

spacesamurai · 2nd Degree Black Belt Joined: 02 Feb 2007 Posts: 204

Your link makes my McAfee SiteAdvisor anxious.

Chip · Posted: Feb 23, 2008 6:24 pm Post subject:

These figures are meaningless in and of themselves.

Ian Bersten · Posted: Feb 23, 2008 6:31 pm Post subject: sencha tea

What language would you like me to write in to make them meaningful?
French, German, Italian, Spanish?

ian

Chip · Posted: Feb 23, 2008 6:42 pm Post subject:

Well, thank you Ian for confirming the need for international Japanese Tea consumers to buy their tea from a reputable vendor...like O-Cha.

Good Day.

Ian Bersten · Posted: Feb 23, 2008 6:51 pm Post subject: sencha tea

I came seeking information and the response to facts has been less than helpful.

Please unsubscribe me. You have nothing to offer.

britt · 2nd Degree Black Belt Joined: 22 Oct 2007 Posts: 179

Kevangogh · Forum God Joined: 19 Jul 2005 Posts: 916 Location: Japan

FataliTEA · Posted: Feb 24, 2008 1:05 pm Post subject:

Oh wow. That Ian Bersten guy is blahblah

Assuming those numbers are correct, the only solution is that smart Japanese businessmen buy very cheap Chinese tea to resell to other countries.

That's interesting about the Konnacha having it's own belt system to collect it. I've never tried the stuff, but sounds like I'll get to it one day. I would expect there to be MASS amounts of the konnacha coming out of sencha production. When I finish off a tin, I tap down all the powder stuck to the walls, and including the powder left at the bottom, I have enough for a couple good pots of tea. Considering the brutal processing sencha undergoes, I expect they accumulate a TON of the stuff.

MoGa · Posted: Feb 29, 2008 9:35 pm Post subject: Re: sencha tea

Kevangogh · Forum God Joined: 19 Jul 2005 Posts: 916 Location: Japan

The topic of this thread is "konnacha."

MoGa · Posted: Mar 01, 2008 2:41 am Post subject:

Thank you for your warm welcome to this forum.

I also have doubts as to whether ALL the konnacha sold as konnacha in Japan comes from tea processing dust.

I also wonder how much konnacha becomes a flavouring for candy, chocolate and ice-cream, 'matcha milk' powder, is made into cold drinks, added to food (such as ochazuke packets) used in personal hygiene and cosmetic products, or used in other products I am so far unaware of.

Whereas the first hand account of the konnacha conveyor belts is fascinating, I also find it hard to believe that this accounts for all the konnacha sold and used.

Perhaps I am blahblah

and

also

EDIT TO ADD: my mistake. I meant konacha 粉茶 (with just the one n)

Chip · Posted: Mar 01, 2008 3:30 am Post subject:

Welcome to the forum MoGa...we are actually a pretty mellow bunch here most of the time, but we love Japanese tea.

I hope you stick around and read the many threads on Japanese tea.

The problem that arose with this topic is that the arguments by Ian, though interesting, did not really support his points.

But it did confirm my desire to obtain Japanese tea from only reliable and reputable sources...and I will ask about Chinese tea in vendors' Japanese tea products.

FataliTEA · Posted: Mar 01, 2008 1:18 pm Post subject:

Just couldn't leave it alone, could you MoGa?

This is what is great about life... second chances.

MoGa · Posted: Mar 01, 2008 6:32 pm Post subject:

FataliTEA, you are welcome to tell my Japanese husband that my name is Ian (MoGa indicates my gender, I doubt you realised)

Chip, thank you!

I came here from another forum after I realised how little I knew about powdered green tea. Basically, this is what konacha 粉茶 means - powder (or pulverised depending on the translation) tea. The same characters will be used by the Chinese.

I'm not so sure Ian's comments didn't support his points. They certainly got me thinking about konacha and have inspired some interesting talks with my own friends and family.

One point that has come up is that certain tea shops in Japan have specialised equipment so that they can turn any tea you buy into konacha. Effectively, they will do on a small scale what Ian told us the Chinese producer will do on a large scale... which is turn sencha into konacha.
Obviously, enough people want this for tea shops to buy and maintain this equipment and have it be economically viable.
I'm sure a few of you also know that there are customers who have their own equipment to do this at home.
If this is so common, it would make little sense for some companies not to pre-pulverise some of their tea.

When looking at websites in Japan and China using 粉茶 I also noticed a huge market for what is termed green tea 'micro powder'.

Whilst the leavings from tea processing plants most certainly do make up a great deal of the konacha sold (and my compliments again to Kevangogh for a great account of the conveyor system witnessed), Ian helped me realise that there is a lot more to it than that.

When I shop at a tea shop or visit a patisserie or upmarket depachika I will continue to assume that the products made or flavoured with matcha are just that. When at Lawsons, 7-11 or any of Japan's thousands of convenience stores I will now wonder which green tea products are actually made with konacha, and how much of that will have come from China (not that I mind in the slightest).

One thing I am convinced about having gone through this thread, and that is that I have already ingested a lot more konacha than I ever would have imagined. I also now know I know even less about konacha than I thought I did (even the Japanese Wiki doesn't have much to say about it)

----
And in my personal discussions, we've also been wondering how much konacha those working at a tea processing plant must take in - through their nose, throat, pores. If so much tea ends up as leavings on a conveyor system, the guys who work there must take in kilos of the stuff on an annual basis. Even if modern methods can prevent this, the technology must be recent, so there are people who will have spent life times effectively snorting neat tea on a day to day basis. If I was going to make a study to determine the health properties of green tea/konacha, these are the people I'd start with.

EDIT TO ADD:
Just in case anyone pulls me up on the translation of konacha and says it is 'dust tea'. My (flawed) understanding is that 粉 has at least two readings. One is hokori - which means dust, the other is kona - which means powder.