NCCSL facilitates green tea manufacture

“Sri Lanka manufactures 144,000 kilograms of green tea annually at 16 factories but exports four million kilos, bridging the gap with imports,” said a National Chamber of Commerce of Sri Lanka (NCCSL) official.

Since the volume is low NCCSL signed an MoU with the China Council for Promotion of International Trade, Fujiyan Sub Council to train people in the manufacture of green tea.

Under the program already two batches have been trained in the art of manufacturing green tea in China while the third batch will leave for China in April. The training is provided at a concessionary rate.

The 8-10 day training includes theory classes as well as hands on training in the manufacture of green tea.

The participants will have a meeting with the Fujiyan Tea Association as well as visit the Tea Market in Fuzhou said the official.

He said that in the 1950s China was importing black tea from Sri Lanka.

They mainly consume green tea. In Sri Lanka too there is a demand for green tea by the expatriates living in the country.

Green tea is made solely with the leaves of Camellia sinensis that have undergone minimal oxidation during processing. Green tea originates from China and has become associated with many cultures in Asia from Japan and South Korea to the Middle East.

Recently, it has become more widespread in the West, where black tea is traditionally consumed.

Many varieties of green tea have been created in countries where they are grown.

These varieties can differ substantially due to variable growing conditions, horticulture, production processing, and harvesting time.

Over the last few decades green tea has been subjected to many scientific and medical studies to determine the extent of its long-purported health benefits, with some evidence suggesting that regular green tea drinkers have lower chances of heart disease and developing certain types of cancer.

Although green tea does not raise the metabolic rate enough to produce immediate weight loss, a green tea extract containing polyphenols and caffeine has been shown to induce thermogenesis and stimulate fat oxidation, boosting the metabolic rate 4 percent without increasing the heart rate.

According to a survey released by United States Department of Agriculture in 2007, the mean content of flavonoids in a cup of green tea is higher than that in the same volume of other food and drink items that are traditionally considered of health contributing nature, including fresh fruits, vegetable juices or wine.

Flavonoids are a group of phytochemicals in most plant products that are responsible for such health effects as anti-oxidative and anticarcinogenic functions.

However, as a tea information site points out, the content varies dramatically amongst different tea products, basing on the same USDA survey.