ABSTRACT
Instrumentation and methodology for the quantification of phytochemicals in tea Ting Zhang, China University of Geosciences and Huanggang Normal University, China; Xiaojian Lv, Yin Xu, Lanying Xu and Tao Long, Huanggang Normal University, China; Chi-Tang Ho, Rutgers University, USA; and Shiming Li, Huanggang Normal University, China and Rutgers University, USA
1 Introduction
2 Phytochemicals in tea: bioactive compounds
3 Phytochemicals in tea: flavour and colour compounds
4 Analytical techniques for tea characterization: overview and chromatic techniques
5 Analytical techniques for tea characterization: spectroscopic techniques
6 Determination of compounds in tea: phenolic compounds and sugars
7 Determination of compounds in tea: analysis of volatile compounds
8 Determination of compounds in tea: other compounds and elements
9 Diversified tea products
10 Summary
11 References
In addition to water, tea (Camellia sinensis) is the most popular beverage in the world. China is the world’s largest producer of tea, contributing to 36% of the total global tea production, followed by India (21.2%), Kenya (7.8%), Sri Lanka (7.0%), Turkey (4.8%), Vietnam (4.6%) and Iran (3.3%). Tea contains compounds such as polyphenols, amino acids, vitamins, carbohydrates and purine alkaloids such as caffeine which possess important physiological properties and health-promoting benefits.1 Tea is one of the world’s most popular nonalcoholic flavoured beverages. Tea and its extracts have been widely used in beverages, functional foods, cosmetics and other fields. With the increasing research on the functional components of tea, the extraction and screening technology of antioxidant activity from various effective components of teas have become a hotspot for the investigation of the tea.
