Chemical characterisation of CTC black tea of northeast India: correlation of quality parameters with tea tasters' evaluation

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Consumers have different regional perceptions of tea quality. Objective evaluation based on biochemical data for different regions has been needed for a long time. Biochemical factors regulating this variation would help to remove regional disparities. This study was undertaken on CTC (crust, tear and curl) black tea to generate the biochemical data responsible for quality along with tea tasters' evaluation of three geographical regions of northeast India and to determine the reason for the variation.

Spatial variability of theaflavins and thearubigins fractions and their impact on black tea quality

“…The correlations between biochemical components and tasters' parameters are presented in Table 1. Quality of tea as characterised by tea tasters is the masking effect of biochemicals present in tea, out of which theaflavins and thearubigins are largely responsible for brightness, briskness and strength (Bhuyan et al 2009). All the analysed biochemical components showed significant positive correlations with tasters' observations.…”

“…The environmental factors such as temperature, rainfall, altitude and soil, and cultural practices such as plucking, pruning, shade and use of fertilizer influences the quality of black tea (Bhuyan et al 2009;Owuor and Obanda 1998;Carloni et al 2013).…”

“…Total soluble solid (TSS) is an important physico-chemical parameter of black tea quality (Bhuyan et al 2009) and has been regarded as an international standard for quality control (Yao et al 2006). TSS consists of several biochemical compounds such as polyphenols, sugars, caffeine, amino acids and minerals (Harbowy and Balentine 1997;Wood et al 1964).…”

“…Significant relationship between theaflavins and tasters' quality was established for Kenyan tea (Owuor et al 2006). The relationship of theaflavins and thearubigins with tasters' quality was reported for black tea from the geographical regions of Northeast India (Bhuyan et al 2009(Bhuyan et al , 2013. For assessing tea quality, the use of TF fractions is more appropriate than the use of total TF content.…”

Development of quality control parameters for the standardization of Leaves and bark of Sida acuta Burm.f

“…Though tea and its impact on health attract the attention of public it is essential to determine the nutrient content of commonly consumed teas. Nutrients content in tea have been studied previously by several scientists in several countries [27,28]. In Bangladesh, Islam et al and Rahman et al have studied on tea, but there is very little information available on caffeine and niacin content in tea [29,30].…”