Ichou-ka Green Tea
“Dry Aging Method Maximizes Green Tea's Potential”
Product Features
Ichou-ka (Aged) Green Tea accentuates the refreshing floral aroma of tea leaves.
This type of green tea combines both the refreshing floral aroma and great flavor of Japanese green tea. We developed this new aromatic product for domestic and overseas market amid increasingly varying preferences by our consumers.
Production Method
Normally harvested raw leaves are stored at low temperature for about 15 hours to enhance the floral fragrance. After this phase, the process is similar to regular dried green tea leaves but since the main feature is its aroma, the length of steaming need to be somewhat shortened.
Main Feature
By enhancing the aging aroma of the tea, the floral scent is accentuated. Also, by allowing the leaves to wilt, it has an aging effect and you will notice improved water color and slight increase in amino acid has also been confirmed. Due to this phenomenon, you could expect a milder fragrance.
AC installed in small cargo for raw leaves (left) and the leaves inside the cargo that are being treated to “ichou”, or age.
The composition analysis shows that leaves that were treated with ichou process tend to contain increased free amino acids, especially “asparagine”, "aspartic acid" and "serine” compared to immediately dried leaves.
| Category | Aspartic acid | Glutamic acid | Asparagine | Serine | Glutamine | Arginine | Alanine | Theanine |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Immediately dried tea leaves | 0.23 | 0.28 | 0.02 | 0.11 | 0.28 | 0.32 | 0.03 | 1.17 |
| Ichou treated dried tea leaves | 0.46 | 0.28 | 0.42 | 0.21 | 0.34 | 0.42 | 0.04 | 1.26 |
| Indicating ① as 100 | 200 | 100 | 2100 | 191 | 121 | 131 | 133 | 108 |
HPLC: Analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography (Analyzed by JA Enshu Yumesaki)
