Caucasian Rhododendron Grinding-Fixing Machine

An endemic plant species typical for the Caucasus is the Caucasian rhododendron (Rhododendron caucasicum Pall), which, due to its unique chemical composition, has many medicinal properties, therefore, folk healers have used it since ancient times to treat various severe and mild diseases. At the present stage of the development of science, the question arises about the possibility of using this most valuable plant for industrial purposes. The question is raised of the production of mate tea from the Caucasian rhododendron. The rhododendron processing technologies proposed so far are reviewed and it is shown that none of them can provide aromatic and taste indicators characteristic of tea mate in the resulting product due to the fact that most of them are based on the processing technology of ordinary black tea. It is substantiated that in order to obtain mate tea, it is necessary at the initial stage of processing to fix the raw material from rhododendron, cut it and grind it to sizes acceptable for packaging, remove excess moisture contained in the sheet and give the final product a light smoke aroma and a slightly bitter taste. To solve these problems, a schematic diagram of a new machine for the simultaneous grinding and fixing of the Caucasian rhododendron is proposed.