澳大利亞茶葉種植者Australian Tea Growers Are Keen on Green

Australia is recognised, worldwide, for its quality products, as well as green and clean practices. Green tea, however, is not the first thing that comes to mind when talking about exported produce.?

澳大利亞以其優(yōu)質(zhì)的產(chǎn)品以及綠色清潔的生產(chǎn)方式而享譽全球。然而，在談?wù)摪拇罄麃喌某隹诋a(chǎn)品時，想到的第一個產(chǎn)品不會是綠茶。

Around 20 years ago Japanese tea companies were looking for a place to grow their tea during the off season. Working with the Australian government, several test plantations were set up using Japanese tea varietals.

大約20年前，日本的茶葉公司尋找適合淡季種植茶的地方，他們找到了澳大利亞，與澳大利亞政府合作，用日本茶樹品種建立了多個試驗種植園。

The tea was processed using Japanese processing methods, exported and then sold in Japan where it was marketed under Japanese brands. There are several Australian plantations still under contract to produce good quality sencha style tea for the Japanese market.

采摘的茶也采用日本加工方法加工，出口后在日本以日本品牌銷售。目前，仍有數(shù)個澳大利亞種植園處于這種合作模式，為日本市場生產(chǎn)優(yōu)質(zhì)的煎茶（日本風(fēng)格的茶）。

Recently, a growing number of Australian tea companies have incorporated some of this tea into their own collections for the Australian market. Although Australia produces less than 1% of the tea consumed worldwide, the federal government recently provided a $100,000 grant to the Australian Green Tea Cooperative to promote the burgeoning industry. There are now 20 commercial gardens in the country with plans for more.

最近，越來越多的澳大利亞茶葉公司將其中一些茶納入自己的產(chǎn)品系列中，以供澳大利亞市場消費。盡管澳大利亞的茶葉產(chǎn)量不足全球的1％，但聯(lián)邦政府最近向澳大利亞綠茶合作社提供了10萬澳元的贈款，以促進新興的茶產(chǎn)業(yè)的發(fā)展。該國現(xiàn)在有20個商業(yè)茶園，并計劃建設(shè)更多的茶園。

Mangrove Mountain in New South Wales has an ideal climate and was one of the first places planted for the original pilot program.

新南威爾士州的紅樹林山區(qū)（Mangrove Mountain）氣候理想，是最初試驗計劃的首批種植地之一。

“Over the course of time, the competitive advantages that this area had have disappeared or been reduced through international trade, or other areas that could produce these crops more effectively, and cheaper prices,”?farmer John Robb told?SBS. “So, it’s put a big strain on this region, from an agricultural point of view, over the last 50 or 60 years,”?he said.

“隨著時間的推移，該地區(qū)的農(nóng)業(yè)競爭優(yōu)勢逐漸消失，由于國際貿(mào)易的發(fā)展以及其它地區(qū)能夠更高效低價的生產(chǎn)同樣的農(nóng)作物?！鞭r(nóng)民約翰·羅布（John Robb）告訴SBS。他說：“因此，從農(nóng)業(yè)的角度來看，在過去五六十年間該地區(qū)有著很大的壓力。”

Robb is a horticulturist who specializes in Camellias and has travelled the world extensively to research tea production. He is a founding member of the Australian Green Tea Pty Ltd,?Austea?CoOp?and the?AUSTEA?brand.

羅布（Robb）是一位園藝家，專門研究山茶花（Camellias），他已經(jīng)去過世界很多地方研究茶葉生產(chǎn)。他是澳大利亞綠茶有限公司（Australian Green Tea Pty Ltd）、Austea CoOp和AUSTEA品牌的創(chuàng)始人。

?

In 2004, the area caught the attention of the Japanese tea company Kunitaro, which had been searching for new land to meet a growing demand for green tea in its home country.

2004年，該地區(qū)引起了日本茶葉公司Kunitaro的注意，該公司一直在尋找新的土地以滿足其本國對綠茶不斷增長的需求。

“Fourteen years on, the farm is no longer just an experiment but a thriving business and a new source of pride for the community. The owners have expanded the farm to double the size of the original plantation,” writes SBS.

“十四年來，農(nóng)場不再只是一個試驗基地，而是成為了蓬勃發(fā)展的產(chǎn)業(yè)，為社區(qū)帶來的新自豪感。Kunitaro將農(nóng)場擴大，使原始種植園的面積擴大了一倍?！?SBS寫道。

?

The farm has established a counter-seasonal market for Japanese drinkers that coincides with the lucrative gift-giving period of Christmas and the New Year. ?The five-hectare farm produces up to 20 metric tons of tea a year.?Once the leaves are harvested, they go through a small-scale processing facility before shipment to Japan for further processing and packaging.

該農(nóng)場為日本飲茶者建立了反季節(jié)市場，正好與圣誕節(jié)和新年的送禮期相吻合。這個占地五公頃的農(nóng)場每年生產(chǎn)多達(dá)20噸的茶。茶葉在收獲后，經(jīng)過初步加工處理，然后運往日本進行進一步加工和包裝。

You can now find large tea farms on the Somersby Plateau, along the NSW Central Coast, in South West Victoria and Queensland. There are also commercial plantations in Western Australia. The most southern tea plantation in the world is in Tasmania where?Dry Ideas?began growing tea for the Japan market in 1990.

現(xiàn)在，你可以在新南威爾士州中部海岸，西南維多利亞州和昆士蘭州的薩默斯比高原上找到大型茶場。西澳大利亞州也有商業(yè)化茶葉種植園。世界上最南部的茶園位于塔斯馬尼亞州，Dry Ideas于1990年開始為日本市場種植茶。

?

Robb, of AUSTEA says that if his vision comes true one day the NSW Central Coast will be covered with lush tea plantations.

AUSTEA的Robb說，如果他的設(shè)想成真，那么新南威爾士州中部海岸將有茂密的茶園。

?

Our ‘Southern Hemisphere’ unique terroir and production cycle, combined with Australia’s ‘clean & green’ approach gives Australian farmers the advantage, when supplying fresh products into the growing Northern Hemisphere markets, according to Robb.?

Robb說，我們 “南半球”獨特的氣候和生產(chǎn)周期，再加上澳大利亞的“清潔與綠色”生產(chǎn)方法，澳大利亞農(nóng)民有著向不斷增長的北半球市場供應(yīng)新鮮產(chǎn)品的天然優(yōu)勢。

Several new initiatives have recently been put into place, including the Australian Green Tea Pty Ltd (AGTPL) a private tea trading and consultancy, which propagates tea plants specifically for plantations ins Australia.

最近已經(jīng)采取了一些新措施，包括澳大利亞綠茶有限公司（AGTPL），一家私人茶葉貿(mào)易和咨詢公司，開始專門為澳大利亞種植園種植茶樹。

Additionally, the AGTPL is also one of the founding members of the?AUSTEA?Cooperative. Both the AGTPL and AUSTEA?Co-op, were created to act as catalysts in the set-up, education, and development of this industry and its potential farmers; assisting farmers who are interested to make a smooth transition from other crops, into tea, he explains.

此外，AGTPL還是AUSTEA合作社的創(chuàng)始成員之一， AGTPL和AUSTEA合作社的創(chuàng)建都是為了促進茶行業(yè)和潛在茶農(nóng)的建立、教育和發(fā)展。Robb解釋說，就是幫助有興趣的農(nóng)民從其他農(nóng)作物順利過渡到茶。

A new branch of AUSTEA has been designed with the sole purpose of supporting and showcasing, a carefully curated collection of the best Australian teas.? A successful case is?Arakai?Estate, in Queensland.?This award-winning artisan tea company produces green tea and black tea using Taiwanese processing methods.

AUSTEA正在設(shè)計成立一個新的分支機構(gòu)，該機構(gòu)的唯一目的是支持和展示，精選澳大利亞最好的茶來推廣展示。一個成功的案例是昆士蘭州的Arakai Estate，這家屢獲殊榮的茶公司生產(chǎn)用中國臺灣加工方法制作的綠茶和紅茶。

?

Frank Sammut, a board member of Regional Development Australia Central Coast, told SBS he believes green tea could be a major export crop for Australian farmers one day:?“China’s the biggest tea exporter, and we’ll be competing with them, but I think where we have to look at our point of difference is around that clean, green food production which Australia’s known for,” he said.

澳大利亞中部地區(qū)發(fā)展委員會成員弗蘭克·薩姆特（Frank Sammut）告訴SBS，他相信綠茶有一天可能成為澳大利亞農(nóng)民的主要出口作物：“中國是最大的茶出口國，我們將與他們競爭，但我認(rèn)為 我們必須看到我們與眾不同的地方，也就是是澳大利亞著名的清潔綠色食品生產(chǎn)?！彼f。

（本文節(jié)選自11月《茶世界》，更多資訊請關(guān)注第454期具體內(nèi)容）