THE CHEMISTRY OF TEA NON-VOLATILES

Abstract

Tea is the most widely consumed beverage in the world. The daily consumption is around 3 billion cups per day. The manufacturing process causes the fresh green tea leaves to be converted to different commercial made tea including green tea (not fermented), oolong tea (semi-fermented) and black tea (fermented tea). Green tea is preferred in China, Japan and the Middle East countries, the oolong tea is mainly consumed in the eastern part of China, China Taiwan and Japan, while 80% of the rest of the consumers prefer black tea. The manufacturing process in each type of tea has a pronounced impact on the formative and degradative reaction pathways, thus influencing the color, flavor and aroma of the end product. The color, flavor and aroma of various types of tea are dependent on different components in tea. If we say that the tea aroma is mainly dependent on the volatile compounds it contained, then the color and the taste of tea are mainly dependent on the non-volatile compounds it contained. This chapter is intended to discuss the non-volatile components in tea and the roles of these components in determining the color and taste of various type of tea.