METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ANALYSIS OF COMPONENT IN TEA LEAF

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain a technique in which a raw tea leaf is irradiated with near-infrared rays, in which a component contained in the raw tea leaf is specified on the basis of the attenuation of a specific frequency component computed by measuring their reflected light, whose measuring accuracy is increased and which can be applied actually to a tea processing factory. SOLUTION: In an analytical method, dispersed samples are irradiated with near-infrared rays, the near-infrared rays which are reflected from the samples are measured, and a component contained in the samples is specified on the basis of the attenuation amount of a specific wavelength component. At this time, the area of the samples, in a dispersed state, which are irradiated with the near-infrared rays is set at 50 times or higher the area on one side of a sample single body. Regarding a sample such as a tea leaf or the like in which the surface and the rear of the leaf are different, in which a stem or the like is different and in which a component distribution is different, its component can be analyzed with a very small measuring error in such a way that a pretreatment such as a cutting treatment or the like or a refilling operation into a cell 40 is not required.