MAKING and tasting green tea was a highlight of a recent open day and tour of a one hectare research demonstration plot, attended by about 40 potential growers at Somersby field station near Gosford.

Fresh leaves are steamed straight after harvest, then rolled and slowly dried.

Kunitaro Tea Company of Japan said green tea from the NSW Department of Primary Industries’ Somersby plantation tasted “excellent”.

Green tea lays claim to human health promoting qualities including lowering cholesterol, reducing blood sugar, diabetes, strokes and blood pressure.

This has created a renewed international demand.

There is potential to export out-of-season production of high quality green tea to Japan and it is anticipated that interested growers on the Central Coast and lower Hunter Valley will develop the local green tea industry with Kunitaro.

The Somersby plot contains different green tea varieties and was established by NSW Department of Primary Industries more than five years ago.

It is also used for a collaborative research project between Gosford Horticultural Institute and Newcastle University, with funding from Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation and the Japanese commercial partner Kunitaro.

They are investigating better ways of growing quality green tea in Australia.

Research results have shown that shading green tea bushes just before harvest improves the quality and taste.

Australia imported about $2.9 million worth of green tea in 1999, which increased to $4.3 million in 2003.

Although green tea is a major crop in Japan, it also imports significant quantities.

Green tea is made from a special type of Camellia bush (Camellia sinensis var. sinensis.), grows well on the Central Coast and must be freshly harvested and processed.

- JOHN GOLDING

This story appears in Agriculture Today.