日本の飲み物と言えば、お茶を思い浮かべる人も多いと思います。「夏も近づく八十八夜～♪」という有名な童謡がありますが、実際には４月から５月にかけてが茶摘みの最盛期だそうです。
世界中で飲まれているお茶ですが、日本茶の特徴とは何でしょうか。それは製法にあるようです。日本茶の多くは、摘みたての新鮮な茶葉を蒸して発酵を抑えます。この「蒸す」という過程が日本茶ならではのものだそうです。
参考
http://web-japan.org/trends/11_tech-life/tec111208.html
Japanese
tea
When talking about
the drinks of Japan, many people think of o-cha. There
is the famous children’s tea picking song ‘Eighty-eight nights approaching
summer～♪’ but, in fact
the season for tea leaf picking is from April to May.
O-cha is being drunk all over the world, but what is the
characteristic of Japanese tea? It is in the method of
manufacturing. For many Japanese teas, freshly picked tea leaves are steamed to
halt fermentation. This steaming process is unique to Japanese tea.
Since a long time ago, o-cha has been a
favorite of the Japanese people. Today, even busy Japanese people who do not
have free time to slowly taste o-cha are enjoying o-cha in many
forms. There are many ways to lightly savor o-cha.
These include PET bottles filled with o-cha,
sweets flavored with tea powder etc. They give people moments to relax in their
busy everyday lives. That is what o-cha is to the Japanese people right?
