中国と日本、煎茶の違い
茶樹からとった茶葉を加工する際、加熱することで発酵を止めるという工程があります。中国では明時代、大きな鉄製の釜で加熱する「釜炒り茶」の製法が登場しました。日本には江戸時代に伝えられましたが、宇治の茶師がこれに工夫を加えました、それが蒸して加熱する「蒸し茶」です。これにより、現在飲まれている日本茶が完成したのです。
The Difference between Japanese and Chinese Tea
When manufacturing tea, it is essential to stop the fermentation of the leaves by heating them.
During the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) in China, this came to be done by heating the leaves in iron vessels. This new process was introduced to Japan in the seventeenth century.
However, a Japanese tea producer who lived in Uji near Kyoto in the first half of the eighteenth century improved this process. He started steaming tea leaves first and then heating them carefully. This way of processing tea created the green tea that is so familiar in Japan today.
