Tea beverages

Tien -Thanh Nguyen, Ph.D - HUST

Dec.2020
Tea beverages
Tea, the most consumed beverage in the world except for fresh water, is a drink made
from the steamed and dried leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant, a shrub native to
Asia. Tea is widely consumed in Japan, China, and other Asian nations, and is
becoming more popular in Western nations.

Tea consumption (2018): 266 bil Tea production – 2017

litters, 35.1 litters/capital. Country Million Tonnes
China consumption: 40% of global China 2.5
India 1.3
Vietnam at the 7th position in tea
Kenya 0.44
production globally procuded in
2018 about 987,3 k tons, increase Sri Lanka 0.35
1,6% export 127.338 tons (217,83 Vietnam 0.26
mil. USD). World 6.1
Classifications
• Tea has been categorized many ways: by the color of the finished
leaves, by the color of the tea liquor, and by the percentage of
oxidation the tea leaves have gone through during processing
• Based on different types of processing techniques, tea can be classified
into different classes
• Green Tea or Unfermented Tea
• Oolong Tea or Semi fermented Tea
• BlackTea or Fermented Tea
• Based on materials:
• Fruit/flower tea
• Herbal tea
 Classifications

• Based on color and modification of tea leaves (China)

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Tea leaf
• Camellia sinensis is native to East Asia,
the Indian Subcontinent, and Southeast Asia
• The leaves are 4–15 cm long and 2–5 cm broad.
• For tea production: young, light-green leaves
• Different leaf ages produce differing tea qualities,
since their chemical compositions are different.
• Tip (bud) and the first two to three leaves are
harvested for processing.
• Tea leave contain several beneficial compounds
for human: polyphenol, caffein…
Wikipedia.com
Tea leaf

(MUNEYUKI NAKAGAWA, 1970)

Tea leaf
• Polyphenols (catechins) and flavonols = antioxidant activity.
Tannins + catechins comprising nearly 90%.
• epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) is the most abundant
flavonoid in tea and particularly in green tea: 26% of the
solid weight of green tea extract is polyphenols, of which
11% are EGCG.
• high levels of EGCG in the blood and brain and may have
the ability to help prevent cancers of the skin, stomach,
colon, pancreas, lung, bladder, prostate, and breast..
(Radical) O. tumor?
Tea leaf
• L-Theanine, a derivative of glutamate, is a unique amino
acid occurring only in green tea and a few other plants.
• L-theanine could reduce stress via either inhibiting neuron
excitation
• Caffein ~ 4%
Enzyme in tea leaf
• Two main classes of enzymes:
• Hydrolysis: amylase, proteinase
• Polyphenol oxidase, peroxidase:
• Oxidase enzymes play important role in black tea processing, effect
on flavor and color of tea. They work best at 40oC
• Polyphenol oxidase convert tannin to red color products and
peroxidase produce pink-color compounds from tannin.
• In green tea processing, these enzyme will be inactivated as soon as
possible.
Processing of green tea

• Plucking (harvesting)
• Enzyme de-activation
• Rolling
• Drying
• Packing

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Plucking
• Green tea leaves are harvest from
plant
• Young leave and tender material is
collected for high quality of tea and
depend on quality of final tea
products: 1 bud + 2 leaves from the
top is normally collected
• Transportation: should be quick to
maintain the quality of leaves (<10
h)
• Loss of moisture
• Increase of temperature
Deactivation of enzyme
• Using steam or hot water to
inactivate enzyme (oxidaza
enzyme) to prevent the
conversion of polyphenol and
maintain the color of tea extract.
Rolling

• Crucial step for shaping the appearance

• Using the rolling machine or by hand
• The tea leave quantity, time and pressure are
major factors during rolling
• Tea leaves should look bright green
• Rolling can combine with sorting to separate
smaller fraction for drying to prevent the oxidation
Drying
• Aims:
• To reduce the moisture of tea <5%
• Development of flavor and color
• Without burning
Conveyor dryer with air
• Method and equipment
• Conventional dryer: hot air, hot surface
• Infrared dryer
• Microwave dryer
Grading and packaging
• It is necessary to pack these in suitable
packages/sacks so that the quality of made
tea does not deteriorate in transit.
• Tea is packed by packing machines having
magnetic attachment to prevent possible
pieces of iron metal fillings from mixing with
tea. Efforts are made to prevent tea from
absorbing moisture.
• Vacuum packaging
Black tea processing
• Plucking Green tea processing
• Withering • Plucking (harvesting)
• Rolling • Enzyme de-activation

• Fermentation • Rolling
• Drying
• Drying • Packing
• Grading
• Packaging
Withering
• To remove partially moisture from fresh leaves after plucking to change the
physical feature (rubbery) of leaf for subsequent processing.
• After plucking: 80% à 60-65% after withering
• Besides, some chemical changes also take place during withering:
• Breakdown of larger molecules to smaller ones that results in the increase of
contents of amino acids and flavor compound
• Increase in caffeine which is responsible for the stimulant effect oftea.
• Increase in permeability of cell membranes which has a great effect on the mixing of
polyphenols, enzymes and oxygen for even fermentation.
• Reduction of tannin
• Reduction of chlorophyll and vitamin C à benefit for color of black tea
Withering
• Withering method:
• Manually by sun, in shade or in room
• By machine: the fresh plucked leaves after sorting are
placed on the withering troughs and air is allowed to
pass over the leaves.
• Temperature of air: 40-45oC
• Time 1.5-4h
Rolling
• withered leaf is subjected to some kind of mechanical operation whereby
the leaf cells are ruptured to give the desired style and appearance to the
made tea.
• During this operation the leaf undergoes the process of size reduction with
a degree of cell disruption to allow the exposure of new surfaces to air
during the fermentation process.
• Tannin, chlorophyll, pectin decreasing
• Flavor increasing
• To methods used:
• Orthodox (OTD)
• CTC
Orthodox (OTD)
• In the conventional orthodox process, the leaf distortion is achieved by
rolling to to primarily break up the leaf cells and to mix up the chemical
components of the leaves with the enzymes.
• The simultaneous twisting and rupturing of the leaf cells allow the
chemical contents of the leaf to be mixed up in presence of air (i.e.
oxygen): necessary for production of black tea characteristics through the
fermentation process.
• Leaves are detached, stalks are broken up into smaller parts, and the leaf
juice is forced to come over the surface of the broken leaf particles. The
thorough mixing of the catechins present in leaf and the enzyme under
exposure to oxygen facilitate initiation of the fermentation process.
• Room temparature of 20-25oC
• Rolling cycle: 3 cylces, at different speeds
• Time of rolling: 40-45 min /cycle
• Pressure: 1st: no pressure, 2nd and 3rd: with pressure during rolling
CTC
• The CTC (crushing, tearing and curling) manufacture is performed
with CTC machine.
• The CTC machine consists of two stainless steel engraved rollers. They
are meshed closely and made to rotate in opposite directions at a
speed differential of 1:10.
• The rolled leaves are allowed to pass through the zone between the
two rollers. The teeth of the rollers perform the crushing tearing and
cutting operations simultaneously.
Fermentation
• The most significant step in tea manufacturing since in this step the
most important properties of tea i.e. liquor characteristic develops.
• This process involves enzymic oxidation/ degradation of polyphenols,
lipids, carotenoids and tarpene- glycosides , and their subsequent
condensation/degradation leading to formation of coloured polymers
and aroma and flavor compounds.
• Fermentation of leaf begins with its rolling to bring about the
necessary changes to make tea liquor palatable. The complex changes
occurring during fermentation, in which the polyphenols are oxidized
and other associated chemicals also undergo some changes.
Fermentation
• Temperature: 20-24oC for best quality of tea, higher than 30oC, the
tannin will reduced (lower quality of tea) (enzyme works best at 45oC)
• Moisture of tea: 60-62%
• Air moisture: 90-98 %
• Air circulation:
• to remove off flavor, supply O2 and remove CO2.
• Reduce temperature
• Tea layer should be suitble for circulation
Fermentation
• Floor fermentation
• Fermentation on cement floor 1s the oldest and most popular
method.
• Leaf is spread over cement floor of racks at 2.5-3.75 cm thickness for
orthodox and 1.25 cm in case of CTC tea.
• The floor should not be wet when the leaf is being spread and there should
never be any stale juice deposits. This will help to keep the bacteria away.
Washing of the floor daily with a suitable detergent is absolutely necessary.
• Aluminum and plastics trays are sometimes used for fermentation. Leaf
spread over the trays should be sprayed thin so that proper aeration can take
place. Only plain aluminum or plastic sheets should be used to avoid bacterial
contamination
Fermentation
• Trough fermentation
• troughs made of aluminum are placed on saddle to facilitate uniform
distribution of air.
• Trough fermentation is more controllable because the quantity of air flow and
the pressure can be adjusted. it also cuts down the total surface area required.
A 15 cm deep container can hold up to 16 kg of pressed leaves when filled to
the top. However, the containers are not filled to the top level so as to facilitate
turning of leaves as and when required.
• In trough fermentation the temperature encountered is high but experimental
results have shown that even at temperature up to 43° C is not harmful to
quality if adequate amount of humidified air is used to pass through the leaf
bed and the fermentation time is cut down.
Trough for fermentation
Drying
• Aims:
• Inactivate enzymes
• Reduce moisture, development of color
for tea
• Remove the off flavor and expose
essence
• Conditions:
• 80oC (for quick inactivation of enzyme)
• Hot air circulation should be quick for
remove vapor but small particles
• Equipments:
Grading and packaging

• Using sieve to sort tea fractions

• Removal of metals and dust…
• Packing in desired package
Other type tea products
Oolong tea processing
• Semi fermentation
• Strong flowery flavor
• Red color

Rolling to make round shape

• PU-ERH TEA processing
PU-ERH TEA (trà phổ nhĩ)
Other tea products

• Instant tea and derivatives

• Kombocha
• Flavored tea
• Herbal tea
• Fruit tea