It's cuppa green tea time on the Central Coast
From the August 2006 edition of Agriculture Today.
Central Coast green tea growers have picked up encouraging signals that they’re on first base to supply exclusive premium product to the Japanese market.
Premium green tea from the Mangrove Mountain and Somersby areas, made from the first leaves of spring, would cater out-of-season, in the time of heaviest demand, to Japanese drinkers in their northern hemisphere winter.
The first ever national green tea conference at Gosford in July reinforced previous evaluations by the Japanese commercial tea company Kunitaro that Central Coast trials had grown “excellent” product.
Faith that green tea is health promoting has led to its increasing use in cosmetics and pharmaceuticals and as a drink.
Consumption in Australia has grown three-fold in the last five years and last year more than 1200 tonnes worth $7.5 million dollars were imported.
The main component of green tea, epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), is an antioxidant – catechin – a beneficial phenolic compound found in a range of horticulture produce and wine.
“Many human studies are beginning to show that green tea has beneficial effects in reducing some neurological diseases, cancers and heart disease,” NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI) research horticulturist, Dr John Golding said.
His colleague at Gosford Horticultural Institute, Dr Vong Nguyen, a 10 cup-a-day man, forecasts profitable opportunities for local farmers in a region where climate matches some of Japan’s best growing areas.
“Establishment costs are high but Kunitaro is willing to pay up to $15,000 per hectare,” Dr Nguyen said.
Kunitaro helped the DPI set up a one hectare trial at Somersby in 1998, and buoyed by successful crops, started its own plantation in 2004 at Mangrove Mountain, planting five hectares, with plans for threefold expansion.
In association with the partnership, the University of Newcastle at its Ourimbah campus is analysing tea quality, assessing the health benefits, and has recently shown that EGCG reduces cholesterol in rabbits.
“Trials are now needed see if this beneficial effect occurs in humans,” said Dr Paul Roach at the University of Newcastle.
The 75 growers, researchers and industry participants at the Gosford conference witnessed a demonstration of the ancient tea ceremony, which uses only the finest leaf, and toured the DPI’s Somersby plantation and Kunitaro’s tea farm at Mangrove Mountain.
They also saw plants raised for commercial production at Paradise Plants, one of Australia’s largest green tea nurseries. The conference was also supported by Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation.
Contact Dr Vong Nguyen, (02) 4348 1927, vong.nguyen@dpi.nsw.gov.au
or
Dr John Golding, (02) 4348 1926, john.golding@dpi.nsw.gov.au
