2014

Healsio Ocha-Presso Tea Machine

Sharp released the Healsio Ocha-Presso tea machine, which makes green tea without altering*1 the nutrient*2 content of tea leaves such as catechin*3 and fiber. It represents a whole new way to make and enjoy green tea.
The product’s small ceramic tea mortar mills the tea leaves into a fine powder, doing it slowly in order to reduce friction heat and thus avoiding the destruction of the nutrients in the leaves. While in conventional tea brewing the leaves end up as leftover tea grounds, the leaves themselves are ground into a fine powder with Sharp’s Ocha-Presso. The result is green tea that not only has approximately 1.9 times*4 the amount of catechin but is also high in nutrients such as fiber and chlorophyll*5, something rarely found in tea-pot-made green tea. The milled tea leaves are stirred with a rotary blade—like as with a bamboo whisk—inside the machine, then mixed evenly with hot water to give the flavor of authentic, hand-made green tea.

*1
When milling tea leaves for one to three people at one time.
*2
Nutrients in green tea include vitamins A, C, and E, catechin, fiber, chlorophyll, theanine, and caffeine.
*3
Catechin is an effective antioxidant and can also lower blood cholesterol and blood sugar levels.
*4
Tests conducted by Japan Food Research Laboratories; test results published on February 21, 2014; test results publication number 14012819008-01; amount of catechin was measured by Sharp.
*5
Chlorophyll is a nutrient with effects that include deodorizing.