Subject: Investigation into the culture and manufacture of Tea.
The scope of the investigations whilst principally concentrating on black teas derived from the species Camellia and varieties thereof also takes into account green and oolong teas similarly derived and 'Tisanes' being speciality and herbal teas. The possibilities of NZ native plant species yielding useful 'herbals' falls within this definition of tea.
This report is in the form of an analyses of the proposal (which is in italics).
Preliminary to grant application:- 1993 April
Visits and discussions - Tea Gardens Po Lin Monastery Lan Tau Island, Hong Kong - courtesy the Late Brooke Bernacchi Esq. Trade inquiries Hong Kong, Canton, Kweilin, Chungking, Shanghai.
1995 May
Visits, discussions and identification of exporters and re- exporters of Tea in Hong Kong - examination of factors affecting price. Visit to Tea Estates near Tanah Rata, Cameron Highlands, Malaysia, (including detailed discussions at Boh Estate and examination of cultivation, husbandry, processes and machinery operation.) Directed to enquire in London at Tea Council.
June
Discussions with Agriculture New Zealand and inquiry to Thames Valley/Coromandel Business Development Board - letter of intent 23 June 1995.
August
To London to Tea Council to establish bona fides, computer networking links, technical assistance and introduction to the trade so as to gain a global marketing perspective. Introduced by Tea Council to major tea brokerage for detailed discussions and insight into the world market operation, past and current trends, future predictions, technology transfer and advice as to how to proceed the investigation.
Obtained contacts to source clonal plant material.
Contacts obtained in London proved unwilling to supply clonal plant material with the exception of the Tea Research Foundation of Central Africa in Malawi. The effort to obtain a supply and possible assistance is continuing.* The TRFCA is funded by it's membership who pay a proportion of the realisation price per kilo (cess basis) to the Foundation. Any releases of clones to non members is charged at US$25,000 /clone (10 years after the release of the clone to members)+ cost of cuttings+airfreight to destination. Cuttings must then be placed in propagation medium in a controlled atmosphere propagation facility within 72 hours at the high security quarantine centre at MAF Lindfield who charge for this service and assume no liability for losses.
The unwilling contacts included the Tea Research Institute at Tallawkelle in Sri Lanka, the Tea Research Institutes of Southern India and Northern India and Assam.
It would appear that assistance is available in India and Sri Lanka but there is a policy to retain plant material there, whilst freely offering advice and participating in discussion.
The effort to source plant material in New Zealand has yielded a small number of plants that are being grown on as mother bushes. The research effort has now entailed the establishment of an archival collection at Purangi as exhaustive inquiries have failed to discover any collections of tea plants of either green or black varieties. The DSIR collection at Riwaka was discontinued and destroyed 16 years ago when the Camellia Chinensis var. Kabuchita (Yabukita) was introduced in a joint venture between a Japanese company and the Tea Co-operative at Motueka under the guidance of MAF and DSIR. This venture has dwindled from 38 participants to 6 due to an incorrect evaluation of climatic factors affecting yield. This is primarily the frequency of late frosts in that locality.
Initial attempts to propagate from local mother bushes and local seed were met with failure. This was originally thought to be the result of fungal disease that destroyed many plants in the propagating greenhouse but it now seems more likely that root disturbance when setting out caused the first planting to fail and an incorrect understanding of the irrigation rate the second planting to fail, the surviving plants are growing well.
machinery and equipment and allied technology as well as an undertaking to conduct organoleptic evaluations for research and marketing purposes.
*We are currently attempting to obtain support for the establishment of a NZ Tea industry group from amongst interested parties who would be eligible to apply for membership of the Tea Research Foundation of Central Africa and similar research organisations as well as to be able to better represent collectively the views of tea planters and processors in Wellington and with organisations such as the Joint Australia New Zealand Food Standards Committee in Canberra.
4) How is the investigation going to be carried out?
Steps - It is my intention to:
a)Determine the suitability of differing elevations, soil types, microclimates and irrigation demands of my Purangi property to
b) trial clonally propagated selections of imported tea varieties and growing/irrigation regimes
The lower elevations at the mean frost level and below have not been trialled due to the shortage of plants and the higher risk of damage. Bagged plants of var. Assamica responded very rapidly to increased daylight hours from 10.3 hours/day and displayed phenomenal growth flushing, sufficient to pluck on a 10 day cycle from 1st October. Unfortunately upon setting out in mid November they suffered severe planting shock dropping all leaf and dying back very rapidly. Var. sinensis did not flush very much at all before planting. Many var. sinensis died upon planting but the surviving plants did not make much growth until the end of December.
c) with concurrent development of prototype cultivation and harvesting machinery and water supply infrastructure
Further study has identified a wide range of mechanical devices that have been developed to production stage recently to undertake the mechanical plucking of Camellia. This has been due to the increased cost of labour particularly in Japan. The Queensland black tea industry is extensively mechanised as is the much smaller Motueka Tea Co-operative.
I have touched briefly on the problems of the Motueka growers and note that the mechanical plucking of their single clone gardens is successful. The flush of growth from plants that are all from the same clone is more even than from plants raised from seed that each have genetic variations due to cross pollination and are hybridised. The factors which cause clonal plants to crop unevenly can only be due to differing soil types, moisture levels etc.. within the garden or plantation.
These differences can be negated by cultural practices. It is important that an even flush of growth can be produced for mechanical plucking to succeed. An even flush of tips will be more likely to produce an even and higher quality manufacture of tea. This is traditionally obtained by hand plucking and regulating the pluckers by price or other discipline to bring the required grades to the factory for manufacture. It should be noted here that the Queensland industry was established by the large scale planting of seed and seedlings through plastic mulch. There have been problems of quality in manufactured tea as a consequence of the uneven flushing of these plantations and the inclusion of coarser leaf through mechanical plucking.
We have identified the absolute necessity for irrigation. If we had not made provision for this we would have suffered total losses of our developmental Camellia plants. Drip irrigation has been employed but we are still of the opinion that trails with overhead irrigation should be undertaken.
d) establish a tea manufactory to trial processes, process equipment, maturation storage and packaging
Because there has not been the volume of Camellia leaf to process as yet the construction of the tea factory building incorporating a wilting loft has been postponed and the trial manufactory established in vacant winery space adjacent to a chiller room and laboratory. It was decided to initiate a number of experiments utilising plant material on hand which include common garden and native herbs.
The first and most obvious choice for a native herbal was manuka/kanuka followed by kumarahoe and mingimingi. A close analyses was undertaken of manuka to determine why it is not commercially produced when historically it is one of the most often used native herbals and was identified as a useful tea producer by Cook and Banks' first expedition. There has been a lot of research undertaken confirming it's medicinal properties but nothing could be found or would be divulged concerning it's culinary properties. From our own estimation the character of fresh manuka infusion is similar to Chinese green tea scented with jasmine or gardenia and this is probably why it impressed the HMS Endeavour crew so much, it being similar to the tea, they who could afford it, would have known in the late eighteenth century. Black tea as we know it today was developed a century later by British India/Dutch East Indies and led to a temporary decline in Chinese production.
The question remained as to why packaged manuka tea was not produced and it became apparent that the processes necessary had not been formulated. It appears from our researches that this is not a matter of technology but of approach. We have therefore devised processes that utilise existing technology that enable us to package manuka tea that retains essential oils and flavour. These protocols are still developing but have successfully progressed to the extent that they have been supplied to the regulatory authorities and now enable us to start limited manufacture.
e) test market nationally and internationally involving the registration of brand and development of a marketing plan with associated advertising
The test marketing will initially involve local and internet sales inviting customer participation as well as distributing samples to the trade in Hong Kong with a view to obtaining indications of interest. It is our view that the principle target market be in Asia and the secondary target market be in North America and then Europe.
f) undertake progressive financial analyses with professional overview of each component of the investigation
We are now able to do this through having integrated our computer systems with our accountants computer systems and reporting requirements.
g) establish a computer database for information management networking internationally for the purposes of technology transfer
After preliminary research into various computer platforms and database software we decided to take advantage of internet protocols to be able to present and transfer information easily and with a minimum of complications. html is not dependent on specific applications or specific computers or operating systems and even in the present rapidly developing IT (information technology) environment it will not be bypassed or made obsolete. We have therefore acquired the technology and the skills required to create web sites (HTML).
As a result of the acquisition of these skills and technology which has been directly due to the Investigation into Tea Culture in part funded by the Thames Valley Coromandel Business Development Board Grant we have found ourselves in the position to offer computer and internet support through the creation of a subsidiary which we have called PurestSOL Internet Solutions.
PurestSOL Internet Solutions offers a range of services aimed at providing down to earth networking and internet solutions for business and other organisations as well as individuals who want to establish a meaningful presence on the internet quickly and cost effectively.
Our web sites have been created on a 6100/66 Power Macintosh predominantly using BBedit, Adobe Photoshop and web browsers designed by Netscape, Microsoft and Apple. We will do the groundwork to enable you to access, use and be present on the internet.We have already set up web sites for ourselves and other organisations
http://www.wave.co.nz/pages/purangi for Purangi Estate Limited
http://www.wave.co.nz/pages/purangi/tree for The New Zealand Tree Crops Association
http://www.wave.co.nz/pages/purangi/cooks for NZ ONSITE ONLINE an on-site water and wastewater site publishing model protocols.
We have utilised the internet for research purposes, networking and marketing. As a tool for research the internet gives us a direct means to communicate with scientists and research institutes, governmental organisations and universities. We have already established a marketplace on the internet (http://www.wave.co.nz/pages/purangi/marketplace/) where products can be profiled and sold via html forms and credit card transactions. This has already provided us with sales and product enquiries.
It will take three years to grow sufficient trial material for comprehensive production trials, evaluation and test marketing to determine potential for an industry. Marketable varieties can then be bulked up for the establishment of production plantations and manufacturing capabilities explored.
8) Job Creation - will depend on the nature and scale of enterprise within this 'new' industry that is being postulated.
Small tea gardens producing speciality teas fit within the destination sector of the tourism industry and are popular in parts of Asia. Tea is consumed on the premises and purchased by visitors.
Medium scale production is dependent upon the ability to produce quality high priced teas, mainly green and oolong for the Asian and American markets and black blenders for the international auction system. The use of innovative labour saving technology will be central to the viability of medium and large scale production. The possibility of large scale production utilising this technology, as well as economies of scale, for the production of even 'plain liquoring' lower priced grades of black teas, should not be discounted.
These types of teas are produced employing low cost labour often subsidised by state organisations funded by the World Bank or similar, on the premise that, labour intensive practices are mandatory for tea growing. A purpose of this investigation is to test this premise against New Zealand ingenuity.
Our region presents the soils and climatic factors that may allow for extensive planting, utilising clonally propagated varieties, on tractorable country and possibly utilising existing size landholdings.
If this is demonstrable, the scope for job creation is immense.
It would appear that we have progressed some way to the demonstration of this thesis as the Camellia collection has established successfully despite the difficulties encountered. We see no reason to doubt that we can continue to bulk up plant numbers from selected parent plants and establish production plantations for the manufacture of black green and oolong teas whilst continuing the 'tisane' herbal tea development effort and the marketing of our manuka products.