Tea leaves that have been frozen and stored after steaming are generally used for processing of hand-rolled Japanese green tea (Temomi). However, there has not been a useful method for long-term storage of tea leaves for black tea processing. We stored withered tea leaves for period up to 5 months at -20 ℃. Tea shoots of the cultivar Benifuki grown in a field of Kanaya Branch Station, NARO Institute of Fruit Tree and Tea Science, were used for materials. They were plucked by a riding-type

more »

... ng machine in the first crop season and second crop season. They were withered in a fresh tea leaf container. Fresh leaf weights were reduced by forty and thirty percent at the end of the withering process in first crop season and second crop season, respectively. The withered tea leaves were packed in 5-layered laminated film pouches. The pouches were vacuumed, filled with nitrogen, frozen quickly at -30 ℃, and preserved at -20 ℃. The frozen tea leaves were defrosted in a refrigerator overnight before *