Abstract:
The tea plant, Camellia sinensis, is native to Southeast Asia. It is currently cultivated in more than thirty countries around the world, and is a popular beverage (Chaturvedula and Pi akash, 2011). A cup of infusion of made tea is completely different from that of fresh tea fl ushes in color, taste and aroma. These characteristics are developed during the manufacturing process once the tea flushes are harvested (Chaturvedula and Prakash, 2011). The volatile compounds present in fermented tea are lost during tea drying with exposure to direct heat (Zoysa et al., 2008). Resupply of those evaporated volatile compounds to black tea may increase the fresh and natural smell coming out of made tea, and thereby improve the smell of brewed tea liquor. Thus, it may enhance the consumer preference as well.
The objectives of this research were:
To collect the volatile compounds evaporated from fermented tea.
To incorporate the collected volatile compounds again into black tea.
To determine the smell, taste and colour of volatile-compound-incorporated black tea. To determine the shelf life of the developed black tea blend.
