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.
澳大利亞以其優質的產品以及綠色清潔的生產方式而享譽全球。然而，在談論澳大利亞的出口產品時，想到的第一個產品不會是綠茶。
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.
採摘的茶也採用日本加工方法加工，出口後在日本以日本品牌銷售。目前，仍有數個澳大利亞種植園處於這種合作模式，為日本市場生產優質的煎茶（日本風格的茶）。
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品系列中，以供澳大利亞市場消費。儘管澳大利亞的茶葉產量不足全球的1％，但聯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，以促進新興的茶產業的發展。該國現在有20個商業茶園，並計劃建設更多的茶園。
Mangrove Mountain in New South Wales has an ideal climate and was one of the first places planted for the original pilot program.
新南威爾斯州的紅樹林山區（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，該地區的農業競爭優勢逐漸消失，由於國際貿易的發展以及其它地區能夠更高效低價的生產同樣的農作物。」農民約翰·羅布（John Robb）告訴SBS。他說：「因此，從農業的角度來看，在過去五六十年間該地區有著很大的壓力。」
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），他已經去過世界很多地方研究茶葉生產。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，農場不再只是一個試驗基地，而是成為了蓬勃發展的產業，為社區帶來的新自豪感。Kunitaro將農場擴大，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.
該農場為日本飲茶者建立了反季節市場，正好與聖誕節和新年的送禮期相吻合。這個佔地五公頃的農場每年生產多達20噸的茶。茶葉在收穫後，經過初步加工處理，然後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.
現在，你可以在新南威爾斯州中部海岸，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化茶葉種植園。世界上最南部的茶園位於塔斯馬尼亞州，Dry Ideas於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，如果他的設想成真，那麼新南威爾斯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」獨特的氣候和生產周期，再加上澳大利亞的「清潔與綠色」生產方法，澳大利亞農民有著向不斷增長的北半球市場供應新鮮產品的天然優勢。
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.
最近已經採取了一些新措施，包括澳大利亞綠茶有限公司（AGTPL），一家私人茶葉貿易和諮詢公司，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合作社的創始成員之一， AGTPL和AUSTEA合作社的創建都是為了促進茶行業和潛在茶農的建立、教育和發展。Robb解釋說，就是幫助有興趣的農民從其他農作物順利過渡到茶。
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正在設計成立一個新的分支機構，該機構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用中國臺灣加工方法製作的綠茶和紅茶。
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.
澳大利亞中部地區發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。」他說。