The Compounds Contributing to the Greenness of Green Tea

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Color is one of the determinant sensory qualities for green tea. As cold tea beverages in clear bottles are getting more popular, the traditional evaluation methods are gradually being altered to attach more importance to the tea infusion color. For quality control, experiments were carried out on 10 green tea samples to investigate the compounds influencing the colors of dry tea leaves and infusions. By calculating the coefficients of determination between the greenness (expressed in tristimulus data) and chemical composition, chlorophylls proved to be the influential compounds for the color of dry tea leaves; water‐insoluble chlorophylls were also released from the fragile tea leaves during infusion and increased both the greenness and turbidity of tea infusions. Among the flavonoids (catechins and flavonols) detected in green tea infusions, quercetin was shown to be the most important phenolic compound contributing to the greenness of tea infusion.