JPH0695880B2 - Semi-fermented tea manufacturing equipment - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a semi-fermented tea production apparatus capable of automatically producing high-quality semi-fermented tea.

b. Conventional technology Semi-fermented tea is in the middle of completely fermented black tea and green tea that is not fermented at all, and there are various kinds of tea depending on the degree of fermentation, but it is usually produced in the following order.

1) Directly expose the fresh tea leaves to sunlight and occasionally invert the fresh tea leaves, and then wither the sun. 2) Take it indoors and spread it in a place where there is little ventilation, and occasionally invert the fresh tea leaves to wither the indoors. 3 ) When the periphery of the fresh tea leaves has turned reddish brown, put it in a high-temperature kettle and perform "roasting" for several minutes, 4) knead for several tens of minutes, 5) loosen the lumps, and dry sufficiently.

c. Problems to be Solved by the Invention Among the above-mentioned manufacturing methods, the withering of 1) and 2) is performed by manpower for a long time while adjusting the degree thereof depending on the weather. Therefore, it is not suitable for the Japanese tea industry, which aims for large-scale processing with a small number of people, and the degree of withering and fermentation greatly depends on the weather of the day, and it is difficult to produce tea of uniform quality.

Further, in the operations 3), 4), and 5), the operator adjusts the heating while watching the state of the tea leaves for each operation, and also performs the transfer from the loading / unloading operation, which imposes a burden on the operator. Large and homogeneous operation cannot be expected.

The present invention is capable of uniformly withering and fermenting a large amount of fresh tea leaves in a short period of time regardless of the weather, and at the same time, introducing tea leaves
It is an object of the present invention to improve the quality of semi-fermented tea by removing and transporting it automatically, reduce the burden on the operator, and enable mass production of semi-fermented tea.

d. Means for Solving the Problems In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is to transfer fresh tea leaves while thinly spreading them in a space maintained at about 35 to 65 ° C. with appropriate ventilation. A withering machine that heats the fresh leaf surface with a far infrared heater to promote withering and fermentation of the fresh tea leaves,
A pool for holding the tea leaves continuously taken out from the wither until a predetermined amount, and a fermenter equipped with a rotary drum for accommodating a predetermined amount of tea leaves and further stirring the tea leaves to further ferment, 25
A stirrer that stirs leaves on a metal kettle heated to about 0 to 400 ° C, a kneading machine that can sufficiently knead the stir-fried tea leaves, and a mountain-shaped sun inside the rotary drum to dry the tea leaves. While forming a round shape, a dryer to dry the tea leaves sufficiently,
It is composed of the above-mentioned respective conveying means connected between the respective machines.

e. Action FIG. 1 shows the outline of the manufacturing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

This invention ensures that fresh tea leaves are well-ventilated, depending on their quality.
The temperature of the product is 30 to 50 by a far infrared heater that is able to radiate the tea leaf surface evenly while transferring it while spreading it thinly on the transfer means in the room of the withdrawal machine held at about 65 ° C. Since it is heated to around ℃, the green tea leaves that are continuously transferred gradually lose their water content as the transfer progresses. Since it is heated evenly, the stems and leaves are evenly heated, and they wilt rapidly as in strong sunlight. Since the stem has more water and a smaller surface area than the leaves, it is more difficult to dry than the leaves even if it receives hot air, but far infrared rays have the characteristic that they are absorbed by the places with a lot of water. The tea leaves are withered evenly on the stems and leaves.

By the way, fresh tea leaves do not irradiate with far-infrared rays only by allowing hot air to pass through, and the moisture content of the surface tends to decrease. . On the contrary, unless the hot air is permeated only by heating with the far-infrared heater, moisture evaporating from the fresh tea leaves is stagnant and rapid withering action cannot be performed.

When the tea leaves are removed from the wilting machine, the wilting aroma becomes strong and the surface luster disappears, becoming soft and gradually promoting the oxidation (fermentation) of catechins. And
Fermentation of fresh tea leaves begins at the edges and veins of the leaves while producing a fermented aroma. During this time, the green tea leaves are not damaged and are evenly heated by the irradiation of far infrared rays, resulting in homogeneous fermentation.

By the way, the product temperature of the fresh tea leaves is about 35 ° C. when the tea leaves are buds, about 40 ° C. for normal leaves, and about 45 ° C. for hard leaves. This is because the harder leaves have less oxidative enzymes and the fermentation is less likely to proceed, and the higher the product temperature, the more easily the fermentation proceeds. Therefore, the far-infrared heater and the hot air temperature are adjusted by means such as a voltage controller and a heater of the hot air generator so as to keep the product temperature of the fresh tea leaves at the above value. Further, the far-infrared heater described above can improve the action and effect even if it is a simple infrared heater.

The operation time of the above wilting and fermentation, that is, the indoor transfer time is about 30 to 60 minutes, and the water content of tea leaves is 15 to 25%.
When the periphery of the tea leaves and the veins of the leaves have become fermented and become brownish, each means or transfer speed is adjusted so that the tea leaves are just discharged outside the room.

The tea leaves that are continuously discharged little by little from the other end of the withdrawal machine,
The transfer machines (50) and (51) sequentially transfer to the pool.

Next, a predetermined amount of tea leaves thus withered and fermented is stored in a pool, and this is put into a fermenter at once, and a batchwise rotary stirring operation is added. The predetermined amount means that the volume of tea leaves is about 1/5 to 1/2 of the volume of the rotary stirring means, and changes depending on the apparent specific gravity of fresh tea leaves. In addition, the predetermined weight is confirmed by a weighing means that supports the pool, and the tea leaves that have reached the predetermined amount are transported and loaded by the transport device (52) (the volume may be used as a standard, but it is easier to weigh it). is there).

Each time the tea leaves in the rotary drum of the fermenter are slowly agitated, they give a light pressing force to each other when they fall, which promotes the fermentation evenly and also benefits the fermentation aroma. go.

In the rotating drum, its exhaust temperature (approximately equal to the tea leaf temperature) is 40
If warm air (hot air) is supplied and heated to about ℃, fermentation of tea leaves will proceed easily, so the process time will be
It may be as short as 10 to 30 minutes. When supplying cold air, the process time is about 30 to 80 minutes. However, withdrawal / fermented aroma is generally better with cold air than with hot air. Further, if the fermentation is excessively advanced by the previous wilting and fermentation operations, the process time is shortened, and if the fermentation is not advanced, it is lengthened.

Fermentation of tea leaves gradually spreads from the periphery and veins of the leaves to the surroundings, but in appearance, a little green remains between the veins in the central part of the leaves, and in the end, about half of the catechins are oxidized. Need to stop at. Therefore, the tea leaves are taken out from the rotary drum partially opened by the opening / closing means, and the conveying means (5
Send to the next stir-fry process by 3) and (54).

The stir-fry machine rounds a thick iron plate that can be heated to a temperature of about 250 to 400 ° C into a cylindrical shape, covers both ends with lids of the same material, and opens the vicinity of the center of one of them, making the opening part a wire mesh. A ventilation hole is provided, and the vicinity of the other center is opened to serve as a tea leaf inlet, and a part of the peripheral portion is also opened to serve as a tea leaf unloading portion. Inside the cylinder, an appropriate sun is provided so that the tea leaves roll when the cylinder rotates. From the following, the burner is used to roast the cylinder. When the tea leaves are put into the kettle, they efficiently come into contact with the high-temperature kettle, the temperature of the tea leaves rises rapidly, the water content of the tea leaves evaporates vigorously, it becomes moist and soft, and the activity of oxidase is increased. Since the fermentation stops, the fermentation of tea leaves stops there and the fermentation does not proceed any further. When the tea leaves have become soft and soft enough to reach a high temperature of 70 to 80 ° C or higher, the roasted leaf process is terminated, the tea leaves are taken out by the above-mentioned taking-out means, and the Transfer to a kneading machine and load.

By the way, although the stir-frying machine is of batch type as described above, it may be of continuous type in which a cylindrical pot is used to transfer tea leaves from one to the other while stir-frying. In that case, the homogeneity of the tea leaves is slightly inferior.

The kneading machine may be the same as the kneading machine for green tea, but the pressure when kneading the tea leaves is increased and the kneading is performed for a long time. The non-uniformity of the water content in the tea leaves produced in the previous roasting step is compensated for and homogenized, and it is softly rubbed to facilitate rounding in the next step. After about 20 to 60 minutes, the tea leaves are taken out and transferred to the next molding machine by the transfer machines (57) and (58) and put in.

The molding machine is composed of a rotary drum equipped with a mountain-shaped sun and a hot air generating means for supplying hot air into the rotary drum, and agitates the tea leaves while drying them. Inside the rotating drum, there is a mountain-shaped sun on its peripheral surface, so the tea leaves that rotate are repeatedly gathered along the slope of the sun and then fall, gradually tightening into a round shape. If the volume of tea leaves is larger than usual compared to the volume of the rotating drum, the round shape will be better.

When the drying of the tea leaves progresses and the sound of rubbing between the peripheral surface of the rotating drum and the tea leaves begins to be generated, the process is terminated, the tea leaves are taken out, and they are conveyed to the next drying process by the conveyors (59) and (60). throw into.

In the dryer, the tea leaves and hot air are contacted and aerated to dry the tea leaves while the tea leaves are thinly spread and transferred in a room where the temperature is around 80 ° C by supplying hot air of about 80 to 100 ° C. . The tea leaves are slowly transferred and dried sufficiently until the water content of the tea leaves becomes about 5% on a dry basis.

Then you have a semi-fermented tea that you can brew and drink.

By the way, when a control device for controlling the operation of each of the feeding means and the feeding / unloading of the tea leaves in each of the above-mentioned machines is provided, a batch-type fermenter, a roasting machine, a kneading machine, a molding machine The process time is controlled, and the tea leaves are taken out by the respective take-out means at the preset time after the introduction of the tea leaves, and at the same time, the conveyors (53), (54), (55), (56),
Operate (57), (58), (59), and (60) for a time that allows them to be transported and loaded. Of course, when the operation is being performed in the next process, the process is not performed, and the process is performed after the next process becomes empty.
Of each machine, the transfer speed of the continuous withdrawal machine and dryer is
If it is set in advance according to the tea leaves, it does not need to be changed so much during tea making, so it may be adjusted for each individual machine.

f. Embodiments FIGS. 2 and 3 show an embodiment of the present invention, in which a wiping machine A, a measuring pool B, a fermenter C, a stirrer D, a kneading machine E, a forming machine F and a dryer are respectively shown. It is a front view which shows G. Therefore, it will be described with reference to the drawings.

The retractor A is a caterpillar-shaped four-stage endless transport zone (1) with a width of about 1 m, and a 700 W far-infrared heater (2) mounted on the first-stage and third-stage endless transport zones (1), respectively. 40-80 between the uniform heating device (3) consisting of three and each endless transportation zone (1)
A hot air generator (4) capable of supplying hot air at a temperature of about ℃ at a total of about 10 m ³ / min, and these (1), (2), (3),
It comprises an airframe (5) surrounding (4) and an exhaust fan (6) for ventilating the airframe (5). As shown in FIG. 2, each endless transportation zone (1) has a structure in which the caterpillar is vertically arranged at the other end and drops the fresh tea leaves that are placed under the endless transport belt (1). Transferred to a stage.
Further, since the heating device (3) does not uniformly heat the fresh tea leaves that are spread and transferred by simply arranging the far-infrared heaters (2), it is difficult to expect good wilting and fermentation. Reflecting plates (7) and (8) are arranged above and below the heater (2) so that even far infrared rays are uniformly irradiated to any part of the fresh tea leaves. (9), (1
0) is the fresh tea leaf inlet and outlet, respectively. Reference numeral (62) is a loading conveyor for thinly spreading and feeding fresh tea leaves into the loading port (9). (49), (50) and (51) are conveyors for respectively conveying the tea leaves taken out from the take-out port (10) to the weighing pool B, and only the conveyor (51) stops when the weighing pool B is full.

The weighing pool B includes a weighing mechanism capable of weighing 30 to 60 kg of tea leaves. (52) is a conveyor that receives the tea leaves of the weighing pool B and inputs them into the next fermenter C.

Fermenter C has a cylindrical body with a diameter of about 1.2 m and a length of about 1.2 m, and a rotating cylinder (20) provided with a plate-shaped sun (25) with a height of about 15 cm inside the rotating cylinder (20). A gas furnace (21) capable of generating hot air of about 40 to 80 ° C. as needed, an exhaust blade (22) for exhausting the inside of the rotary cylinder (20), the rotary cylinder (20) and an exhaust blade ( And a drive unit (23) for rotating the (22). (53) and (54) are take-out conveyors and vertical conveyors that convey the tea leaves taken out from the rotary drum (20) to the next process.

The stirrer D rolls a thick iron plate that can be heated to a temperature of 250 to 400 ° C. into a cylindrical pot (30), puts lids of the same material on both ends, and opens one near the center, The opening part is a wire net and a ventilation port (31) is provided. The other part is opened near the center to serve as a tea leaf input port (32), and a part of the peripheral part is also opened to serve as a tea leaf extraction port (33). Has become. Cylindrical pot (3
0) Inside, an appropriate sun is provided so that the tea leaves roll when the cylindrical kettle (30) rotates, and the burner (34) is used to roast the cylindrical kettle (30) from the bottom. It has a structure that has become. When the cylindrical pot (30) is normally rotated during the feeding of the tea leaves and during the roasting process, the tea leaves are often rotated, but when the tea leaves are taken out, the tea leaves are taken out by reversing the tea leaves. The take-out conveyor (5
5) is provided.

The kneading machine E is a bowl on a kneading board 37 on which many hills are struck.
While applying pressure from the lid 39 to the tea leaves stored in the 38, the pot
The one that was conventionally used for producing green tea was used to rotate 38. However, it is better to make weight 39 'a little heavier and apply a strong pressure. The take-out door 40 is provided at the center of the kneading board 37 and is opened and closed by an actuator 41 such as an air cylinder. A take-out conveyor 57 is arranged below the take-out door 40.

The molding machine F was the same as the fermentation machine C except for the inscribed sun. As shown in FIG. 5, the sun 42 is formed by vertically fixing a plate on the inner peripheral surface of the rotary drum 43 in a mountain shape that spreads in the direction of rotation, and is effective in forming tea leaves into a round shape. The extraction of tea leaves is the same as Fermenter C, and a part of the peripheral surface is taken out through the door 44
Then, this is opened and closed by the actuator 45. Rotating body
A tea leaf take-out conveyor 59 is provided below 43.

The dryer G is substantially the same as the shrinker A, has no far infrared heater (may be provided), and raises the hot air temperature supplied from the hot air generator 47 to about 60 to 100 ° C. Reference numeral 61 is a loading conveyor for thinly spreading the fresh tea leaves and loading them onto the endless transportation belt 48 below the tea leaf charging port.

The controller H is a timer 7 that sets the process time of the batch-type fermenter C, stirrer D, kneading machine E, and molding machine F among the machines.
Holds 0, 71, 72, 73, and similarly turns on the actuator for opening and closing the take-out door of each machine and the take-out door of the weighing pool.
・ Equipped with relays 74, 75, 76, 77, 78 that turn off
In the case of, the cylindrical hook 30 is reversed.
Relays 79 to 92 are provided for operating 49 to 62 continuously or for an appropriate time after taking out each machine, when the next process becomes empty, etc. Then, as shown in the flowchart on the next page, each machine, each conveyor, and each actuator are operated.

Therefore, the case of producing fresh tea leaves in early August will be described. Fresh tea leaves around this time are less fermentable than fresh tea leaves around May and June, but they are much easier to ferment than those after September.

In the wilting machine A, the transfer speed of the endless transportation zone (1) is adjusted so that it takes 30 minutes from the introduction of the fresh tea leaves to the removal thereof, the thickness of the fresh tea leaves is 25 mm, and the room temperature is 45 to 50 ° C. Adjusted to each. Then, the fresh tea leaves were kept at a temperature of about 40 ° C until they were taken out from immediately after they were put in, and the wilting and fermentation proceeded well. The weight loss at the time of taking out was 25%, and the edges and leaf veins of the tea leaves were It turned dark, producing a withering and fermented aroma.

The tea leaves continuously and little by little withdrawn from the wilting device A are stored in the measuring pool B until the tea leaves reach 38 Kg, but the wilt and fermented aroma become stronger during the standing.

In the fermenter C, 38 kg of tea leaves are processed at one time. Make sure that the exhaust temperature during tea supply is around 30-35 ℃ Regulates combustion in gas furnaces. Rotational speed of the rotating cylinder (20) is 14
rpm. The treatment time of tea leaves was 20 to 30 minutes. Then, the tea leaves were further withered and fermented, and the aroma thereof became stronger. The weight of tea leaves taken out was 35% less than that of fresh tea leaves, and progressed to the extent that a slight green color remained between the leaf veins in the center of the leaves. Was given.

In the stir-frying machine D, the tea leaves whose weight is reduced to about 32 kg are stir-fry at once. When the leaves were roasted for 5 minutes in the kettle 30 that had been kept at about 400 ° C before feeding, the tea leaves became moist and soft enough before taking out, and the leaf temperature became about 80 ° C before taking out. The weight loss of 45
It became about%.

In the kneading machine E, the weight of the weight was fully applied and the tea leaves were kneaded for 60 minutes. The surface of the tea leaf was dried with the stirrer D to cause unevenness of water content, but the water content was also raised and homogenized on the surface of the tea leaf, and was soft and small.

In the molding machine F, the combustion state of the gas furnace was adjusted so that the exhaust gas temperature during the introduction of tea leaves was about 35 to 40 ° C., and the operation was performed for 60 minutes. The rotation speed of the rotary drum was 24 rpm. The weight loss of tea leaves at the time of taking out was about 70-75%, and the tea leaves became small, round and well-tightened.

In the dryer, the transfer speed was adjusted so that it took about 45 minutes from the time the tea leaves were introduced to the time the leaves were taken out, and the room temperature was adjusted to about 80 ° C. Then, drying proceeded in 10 minutes, and fermented aroma was strong, and a round, small, and tight semi-fermented tea was produced.

g. Effect As described above, according to the present invention, thin tea leaves are aerated with a small amount of hot air and irradiated with far infrared rays, and the product temperature is maintained at about 30 to 50 ° C. Stems and leaves are evenly heated without stuffiness, and wilting and fermentation proceed rapidly as in strong sunlight. Further, since a predetermined amount of tea leaves thus withered and fermented is collected and rotatively stirred at once, the tea leaves are subjected to a light pressing action due to the weight of each other, and the fermentation proceeds more uniformly and rapidly. Therefore, compared with the conventional wilting and fermentation operations that are manually performed while being affected by the weather, it is possible to perform the same withering and fermenting in a short time of 1/3 to 1/4. Since everything is done mechanically, it requires almost no manpower. In addition, it is possible to always perform uniform withering and fermentation regardless of the weather.

In addition, after the operation of wilting and fermentation, the stir-fried tea leaves are batchwise,
Since the operation of kneading and molding is performed, the fermentation of tea leaves stops halfway when it has progressed to about half, and the kneading is performed uniformly as a whole, so there is no unevenness in drying and any tea leaves are uniformly round and small. Therefore, semi-fermented tea with good quality can be produced.

Furthermore, since all the machines A to G are connected by a carrier machine so that tea leaves can be automatically introduced and conveyed, the conventional operation of inserting and conveying tea leaves is eliminated, and the burden on the operator is reduced.

In addition, since the control device H also controls the operation timing of the feeding / unloading of tea leaves in each of the batch type machines C to F, and the operation of each of the transporting means 49 to 62, the operator can perform continuous operation in advance. If the transfer speed of each machine A and G is set and the process time of each batch machine C to F is set,
During production, an operator only needs to check the quality of tea leaves from time to time, which significantly saves labor for semi-fermented tea production and mass-produces it.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an overall view showing an embodiment of the present invention. Second
The figure is a detailed front view of the withdrawal machine A, the weighing pool B, and the fermentation machine C. FIG. 3 shows a stirrer D, a kneading machine E, a molding machine F,
It is a detailed view of the front of the dryer G. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the stir-fryer D (line II), and FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the molding machine F (roll-line). FIG. 6 is a detailed view of the control device H. A: Withdrawal machine B: Weighing pool C: Fermenter D: Roasting machine E: Rubbing machine F: Molding machine G: Dryer H ... Control device 2 ... Far infrared heater 20 ... Rotating drum of fermenter C 30 ... Stirrer pot

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. Fresh tea leaves are transferred while being thinly spread in a space maintained at about 35 to 65 ° C. by appropriate ventilation, and the tea leaves surface is heated by a far infrared heater to wither and ferment the fresh tea leaves. A fermenting machine that promotes further fermentation by providing a withering machine, a pool that retains tea leaves that are continuously taken out from the withering machine until a predetermined amount is reached, and a rotating drum that stores a predetermined amount of tea leaves by rotating and stirring the tea leaves. , A stirrer that stirs leaves on a metal kettle heated to about 250-400 ℃, a kneader that can knead the stir-fried tea leaves sufficiently, and a mountain-shaped sun inside the rotary drum to dry the tea leaves. An apparatus for producing semi-fermented tea, which comprises a molding machine for forming a round shape while allowing the tea leaves to be sufficiently dried, and a conveying means connected between the respective machines. 2. The apparatus for producing semi-fermented tea according to claim 1, characterized in that the control device controls the operation of each of the feeding means and the feeding / unloading of the tea leaves in each of the above machines.