Why fresh, farm-to-table tea is important
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“Why fresh, direct-to-market tea is important”
![tea is fresh food](https://img13.shop-pro.jp/PA01279/960/etc/reizo_top.jpg?20140523124843)
At Shunpo Tea Garden, we believe that tea is a perishable food just like vegetables and fruits.
Did you know that when the freshness drops, the color of the tea changes and the taste deteriorates?
tea leaves are alive
At Shunho Tea Garden, we believe that tea is the same as vegetables and fruits.
Normally, most Japanese tea is stored at room temperature in department stores and supermarkets (stored in ordinary shelves together with dried materials such as seaweed and kelp).
But in fact, tea spoils just like meat and vegetables.
Japanese tea is damaged by light, air (humidity) and temperature .
You can protect it from light and air (humidity) by placing it in a light-tight sealed bag.
However, temperature cannot be prevented.
There are almost no general supermarkets or department stores that manage the freshness of Japanese tea to that extent. Unfortunately, it is the current situation that it is treated as dried matter.
At Shunpo Tea Garden, we consider Japanese tea to be a perishable product .
<Refrigerated case at store> | <refrigerated storage case> |
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tea leaves are alive
![freshness of tea](https://img13.shop-pro.jp/PA01279/960/etc/reizo_sendo.jpg?20140523162643)
For example, if you see meat or fish that has lost its freshness, many people will
"This smells weird, so let's stop."
"It's a dull color."
"I feel like I'm going to have a stomach ache"
You'll notice a big change in smell and appearance, and you can stop eating it.
You can drink it .
Also, in the worst case,
It is to drink without noticing that the freshness is falling.
People who don't understand it don't feel it at all, but to put it simply, it's "drinkable but not delicious."
I have a customer like this.
"I have a lot of tea as a present, but it doesn't taste good~"
On the other hand, this
"Customer, what color will it come out when you make that tea?"
When I hear that, some people say, "It's going to be a red-yellow color."
This is the state (damage) of tea that has lost its freshness.
In the case of semi-fermented tea such as oolong tea and fermented tea such as black tea, I think there are different opinions, but the freshness of Japanese tea, which is unfermented tea, greatly affects the taste. That's it.
Tea freshness experiment
This is a tea experiment that was practiced at the tea class at Shunho Tea Garden.
[Difference in color due to freshness]
The picture above is a picture of 6 of our "Sencha Hitotoki".
What is the difference?
- A : New Year's tea
- B: Equivalent one year ago
- C: Equivalent product two years ago
will be
It may be difficult to understand, but
As you move to the right, you can see that it becomes yellowish and then reddish.
This is how Japanese tea loses its freshness.
*We actually tried it in a tea class.
Photo: Mr. Kimura and Mr. Sugisaki
At the beginning of the tea class, everyone drank without revealing the seeds.
Then...
Mr. Kimura: "This tastes like old tea left after a funeral!"
Mr. Sugisaki: "Is it the order of the best tea from the left?"
There were various opinions.
After uncovering the seeds,
"As expected!"
There were opinions such as "Is it so different? Is it really the same tea?"
It's hard to notice because I don't think it's common to compare like this, but when you actually compare them side by side, you can clearly see the difference.
Tea is certainly a product that can be stored at room temperature as long as the environment is good.
but,
Do not miss this chance,
Please know that the appearance (light blue) and taste of tea change greatly depending on its freshness.
I think it's different to choose tea knowing and choosing tea without knowing.
We want you to drink tea every day, so please choose (drink) as fresh tea as possible.
In the above experiment, we used tea that was 1 year and 2 years old.
The experiment may be a little extreme, but I hope you can understand that freshness is very important for tea.
Please try to compare with various teas.
This is a request from Shunho Tea Garden, which wants to deliver fresh tea.
![](https://img13.shop-pro.jp/PA01279/960/etc/nfmt_pattern_02.png)