Abstract

Resulting from the year‐on‐year increase in tea plantations and the saturated consumption of tea leaves, the relative overcapacity in China's tea‐leaf production appears. Discovering the new utilization of tea leaves is helpful to alleviate this phenomenon. The feasibility of extracting saponins from aged tea leaves was investigated and confirmed; three major variables in water extraction were optimized by Box‐Behnken designs. The significant variable found in Box‐Behnken designs, liquid–solid ratio, was went through single‐variable experiments for a more accurate optimization. Seventy‐five ml/g, 1 hr, and 80°C were optimal values and tea‐leaf saponins yield of tea tree variety Longjing 43 reached 12.19% ± 0.0030% after optimizations, higher than the yield of tea‐seed saponins from Camellia oleifera seed meals using the same extraction method (water extraction based on optimizations). According to correlation analyses, tea tree's leaf type and germination stage affected tea‐leaf saponins contents positively, indicating tea trees with larger leaves and later germination stage would have a higher content of tea‐leaf saponins with a higher yield of tea‐leaf saponins under the same extraction method.

Highlights

  • Tea, made from tender shoots and leaves of tea (Camellia sinensis) trees, is one of the most consumed beverages all over the world, making tea (C. sinensis) become an important economic crop in China

  • This research aimed at investigating the feasibility of extracting tea-­leaf saponins from tea (C. sinensis) trees with the assistance of water extraction and at the same time, optimizing three major variables in water extraction to acquire a higher yield of tea-­leaf saponins

  • Because the real content of tea-­leaf saponins could not be determined for the moment, making the extraction rate, which used the real content of tea-­leaf saponins as the denominator, not applicable for comparing the performances of TA B L E 2 Box-­Behnken designs for tea-­leaf saponins water extraction

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Summary

Introduction

Made from tender shoots and leaves of tea (Camellia sinensis) trees, is one of the most consumed beverages all over the world, making tea (C. sinensis) become an important economic crop in China. The past few years have witnessed the continuous growth of tea plantations in China while the consumption capacity of tea tends to be steady, leading to the relative surplus of tea leaves, and due to the recognition and enthusiasm of Chinese market for the freshness and tenderness of tea leaves, Chinese tea farmers usually only pick fresh and tender shoots and leaves of tea trees in spring, with aged leaves disused and grown without management, which aggravated the relative surplus phenomenon. To make the best use of tea leaves, specially aged leaves, is a principal measure to solve the phenomenon.

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