Detailed Explanation of the Processing Technology for Ganoderma Health Tea

Developing Ganoderma health tea can enhance the competitiveness of tea. A brief introduction to the processing technology of Ganoderma health tea is given below. Its process flow: Ganoderma slicing, extraction, filtration, concentration, spray blending (tea leaves must first be re-fired), drying.

1. Ganoderma slicing: Considering overall benefits and the use of mid-to-low-grade tea, it is ideal to select mid-to-low-grade Ganoderma without deterioration as the raw material. After washing the Ganoderma clean with water, cut it into thin slices of about 5 mm, and set aside.

2. Extraction and filtration: Place the prepared thin Ganoderma slices in an 80°C water bath at a ratio of 100 grams of Ganoderma to 1000 mL of water, and extract twice. For the first extraction, extract for 1 hour, then filter through filter paper or cotton yarn on a funnel. The filter residue undergoes a second extraction for 3 hours, then is filtered again. The two filtrates are combined into the Ganoderma water extract.

3. Concentration: Place the Ganoderma tea extract in a rotary vacuum dryer, and concentrate it in a 50-60°C water bath to 100 mL. After cooling, it serves as the Ganoderma tea blending preparation.

4. Tea re-firing: Before blending the Ganoderma tea, first dry the tea base at 100°C. Only in this way can the Ganoderma extract be fully absorbed inside and outside the tea strips, preserving as much as possible the original tea's characteristic of being resistant to repeated brewing. After re-firing, the moisture content of the tea base should be controlled below 5%.

5. Spray blending:

(1) Blending ratio. A ratio of Ganoderma to tea of 1:5 is more suitable for preparing health tea. If the Ganoderma proportion is too large, although the sweet Ganoderma fragrance is stronger, the taste is somewhat bitter and the mouthfeel is poor; if the Ganoderma proportion is too small, the Ganoderma flavor is lost, reducing the health tea's effectiveness. In principle, all types of tea can be used to prepare Ganoderma tea, but green tea and oolong tea are more commonly used, and oolong tea produces the best quality Ganoderma tea, because the mellow taste and aroma of oolong tea can mask part of the bitterness of Ganoderma. In addition, to remove the bitterness of Ganoderma in Ganoderma health tea, some licorice can be added, or white sugar etc. can be added when brewing.

(2) Spray mixing. Use a sprayer to evenly spray the Ganoderma extract onto the tea leaves in proportion in two rounds, that is, spray 100 mL of Ganoderma concentrate onto 500 grams of tea base, 50 mL each time. After the first spray, wait until the tea leaves have fully absorbed it before spraying the second time.

6. Drying: This is the final step. Dry the tea base that has absorbed the Ganoderma extract at 90-100°C until the moisture content reaches 5%. After packaging, it is the finished Ganoderma health tea. The above process is simple and easy to carry out, and different varieties of health tea can be developed according to market needs. Health tea made by mixing some Chinese medicinal herbs that can be blended with tea leaves in a certain proportion with tea leaves only needs to meet tea hygiene standards, for example, the honeysuckle tea and ginkgo health tea already on the market.