JP2002238458A - Concentrated extract of green tea and drink prepared by compounding the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an extract richly containing the tasty components of green tea and holding the richness of flavor characteristic to green tea, and a drink excellent in flavor and taste prepared by compounding the extract. SOLUTION: The condensed extract of green tea richly containing tasty components derived from green tea is manufactured effectively without deteriorating the flavor characteristic to green tea as follows: tannin, which is the bitter component contained in the percolate of green tea is selectively removed in advance; and subsequently the percolate is condensed by lyophilization.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an extract which is rich in umami components of green tea and retains the rich aroma characteristic of green tea, and a beverage using the same.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Green tea is the most popular beverage for Japanese people, but expects green tea filled in plastic bottles and cans to have the same preference as tea brewed on the spot. Is basically impossible. because,
For green tea, the richness of the aroma is a very important factor, but because the aroma component that is the source of the richness of the aroma is volatile, it is extremely easy in the process of manufacturing a green tea beverage. For they will be lost.

[0003] In this regard, particularly in the case of high-grade green tea having a rich aroma, efforts are being made to prevent the disappearance of the fragrance components, since the quality of the fragrance components is greatly deteriorated due to the loss of the fragrance components. In addition, from the viewpoint of preserving the richness of fragrance, it is conceivable to replenish lost fragrance components later, but in fact, it contains a sufficient amount of fragrance components. Making a green tea extract that is itself difficult.

[0004]

Here, for example, when a green tea extract is concentrated to obtain a green tea extract,
Obviously, it is difficult to obtain a concentrated liquid that retains the richness of the aroma of green tea by the conventional heating and concentration method. On the other hand, when other enrichment methods without heating are adopted, considering the economics of production, it is not profitable, but as a production process for mass production. At present, it cannot be adopted.

[0005] The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a concentrated extract containing a green tea umami component abundantly and maintaining the rich aroma characteristic of green tea. An object of the present invention is to provide a method capable of producing a beverage, and to blend the extract so that a beverage excellent in aroma and flavor can be produced.

[0006]

Means for Solving the Problems In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present inventors first use a freeze-concentration method which has been considered to be inefficient for green tea and is not practical. I decided to adopt it. In addition, the present inventors have found that removing the tannin, which is a bitter component, in advance is effective in increasing the concentration efficiency of the freeze concentration in carrying out this freeze concentration method, and completed the present invention. . That is, the present inventors have found that by removing tannin, which is a bitter component, in advance, the concentration efficiency of freeze concentration can be increased to a practical level,
The present invention has been completed.

[0007] More specifically, the present invention provides the following extracts and beverages.

(1) A green tea concentrated extract obtained by subjecting a green tea extract from which an effective amount of tannin for improving the concentration of freeze concentration has been removed to freeze concentration.

In the present invention, since the tannin which inhibits freeze concentration is removed in advance until the tannin becomes an effective amount for improving the freeze concentration, the quality is maintained in a state where the problem of the concentration efficiency is avoided. The most effective freeze concentration method can be performed.

In addition, since tannin, which is a bitter component, is selectively removed, it is possible to obtain a green tea concentrated extract in which umami is emphasized as a result.

(2) The extract according to (1), wherein the green tea extract is obtained from tea leaves cultivated by coating.

(3) The extract according to (1), wherein the green tea extract is obtained from tea leaves of capsulated tea.

(4) The “tannin concentration: theanine concentration” is about “9: 1” to “11: 1”, preferably “10:
The extract according to any one of (1) to (3), which is about 1 ".

Conventionally, the ratio of tannin as a bitter component to theanine as a umami component has been adjusted at the stage of extracting tea leaves (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-220055). However, components contained in tea leaves as raw materials are unstable depending on the season and the like, and are not always the same. Further, it is practically difficult to adjust the components one by one in the extraction process at an actual site where mass production must be performed mechanically, and the production process may be complicated. In this regard, according to the present invention, the content ratio of tannin and theanine in the beverage can be adjusted only by adding the extract after the extraction step, so that the desired tea beverage can be easily and efficiently produced. can do.

(5) A beverage comprising the extract according to any one of (1) to (4).

The beverage is not limited to a tea beverage, and any beverage can be used as long as it can utilize the aroma and umami unique to high-grade tea and the functionality of its components (theanine has a function of relaxing the brain). Can also be added. For example, it can be added to sports drinks, energy drinks, functional drinks and the like.

In the present invention, the term "sports drink" refers to a drink which is preferably consumed during sports. Also,
The “nutritive drink” refers to a beverage containing components (vitamins and the like) effective for nutritional supplementation, and the “functional beverage” refers to a beverage having a physical condition regulating function. In addition, in any of the above beverages, it is assumed that near water (a transparent beverage having a faint taste) is included.

[0018] Japanese tea has different components depending on the temperature of the liquid for extraction, and it is necessary to carefully brew it with lukewarm water in order to sufficiently extract the umami unique to green tea. In this regard, according to the present invention, regardless of such an extraction method, it is possible to easily produce a beverage having a flavor unique to graded tea simply by adding the extract according to the present invention after extracting green tea. You can. It can be said that this also leads to an improvement in manufacturing efficiency and a reduction in manufacturing cost.

(6) A method of using the extract according to any one of (1) to (4) as a flavor control agent or a flavor control agent for beverages.

Since the extract according to the present invention is rich in the aroma derived from green tea, it can be used to adjust the aroma of the beverage to the taste of consumers.

This extract is rich in the umami characteristic of green tea, and is therefore useful as a taste modifier for beverages.

In particular, in a tea beverage, since the taste varies depending on the blending ratio of umami and bitterness, the effect of adjusting the amount of this extract to control the taste is provided.

Furthermore, the present extract is also useful as a raw material for producing a blended tea composed of various teas.

(7) A method using polyvinylpolypyrrolidone to convert the green tea extract into an extract suitable for the freeze concentration method.

In order to freeze-concentrate the green tea extract, it is necessary to remove tannins that hinder freezing. However, polyvinyl polypyrrolidone (hereinafter referred to as PVPP) is added to the extract to add phenolic compounds in PVPP and tannin. By forming a hydrogen bond with a hydroxyl group and filtering the tannin, tannin can be selectively adsorbed and removed.

(8) The method according to (6), wherein the amount of the PVPP added is about 0.2% to 0.6% with respect to the green tea extract to be added.

(9) A method for converting low-grade tea into high-grade tea by adding the extract according to any one of (1) to (4).

Although the use of expensive gyokuro tea leaves to produce a green tea beverage with excellent palatability is not economically efficient, the present invention only requires the addition of an extract to produce low-grade tea leaves. Even so, the finished green tea can have a flavor close to that of fine tea.

(10) The beverage according to (5), which is a green tea beverage in a closed container.

The closed container is extremely effective for maintaining the quality (particularly, richness of aroma) at the time of completion of the beverage. Therefore, if the beverage of the present invention which is rich in aroma is filled, the rich aroma can be enjoyed even at the time of opening.

(11) Ascorbic acid or sodium ascorbate is added and dissolved in warm water, green tea leaves are added to extract green tea, and then polyvinylpolypyrrolidone is added and filtered, followed by freeze concentration. A method for obtaining a green tea umami component-rich concentrated liquid in which the aroma derived from green tea is retained.

By adding ascorbic acid before the extraction, it is possible to prevent quality deterioration in the extraction stage, and to obtain a concentrate having an aroma and umami derived from green tea closer to fresh tea leaves.

[0033]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION [Definition of terms, etc.] The "extract" in the present invention is not limited as long as it has a green tea-derived umami or aroma. included.

In this specification, "tea leaf" is an object to be extracted, and "tea" is obtained by extracting tea leaf with hot water, and has substantially the same meaning as a green tea extract.

As used herein, "flavor" refers to a taste sensed by taste, and excludes aroma components sensed by smell.

Hereinafter, the extract having a high green tea flavor is described in detail with reference to examples. However, the numerical values and the like cited in the examples are merely examples, and the present invention is not limited thereto. It is not limited to examples only.

[0037]

EXAMPLE 1 100 kg of soft water was warmed to 60 ° C., and 0.03 kg of sodium L-ascorbate was added to and dissolved in the warm water, and 12 kg of tea leaves of capsulated tea was added and extracted for 10 minutes (extraction efficiency 15 to 20). %). This extract was fractionated into a tea leaf and an extract by a screw decanter, and the resulting filtrate was cooled to 30 ° C. or lower. After adding 0.6% of PVPP (trade name: Polyclar VT, imported by ISP Japan Ltd.) and stirring for 30 minutes, diatomaceous earth filtration (filter press precoat (trade name: Seratom FW-14 Eagle P)
icter), body feed (trade name: KC Floc W-300 (use 0.5% to 1.0%)) Nippon Paper Industries Co., Ltd.
Was performed to separate and remove PVPP and tannin. The filtrate thus obtained is sterilized at 93 ° C. for 3 seconds and 5-1
Cooled to 0 ° C. By this, Bkg4 extract 60kg
Could be obtained.

Next, this extract was concentrated to a Bx20 by a freeze concentration method. And this concentrate is 93
The solution was sterilized at 3 ° C. for 3 seconds, cooled to 5 to 10 ° C., filled and packaged, frozen, and stored at −18 ° C. or lower. As a result, 12 kg of the extract according to the present invention was obtained.

From the above results, it was found that an extract which was concentrated five times compared to that before freeze-concentration could be obtained. This shows that according to the present invention, there is no problem in the concentration efficiency even by freeze concentration.

Table 1 below shows the changes in the content of the bitter component tannin and the theanine component of the umami component and the ratio in the above example. The tannin was determined by the iron tartrate method, and theanine was determined by a fully automatic amino acid analyzer (JEOL JLC-500).
V).

[0041]

[Table 1]

As is clear from Table 1, according to the present invention, tannin can be selectively removed, and an extract containing a large amount of theanine as an umami component can be effectively concentrated. Moreover, according to the present invention, it is also apparent that an extract can be obtained at a ratio similar to that of the related art, despite the fact that the amount of PVPP is much lower than before.

Next, a sensory test was carried out on 25 subjects randomly selected for their age and gender, for a green tea beverage consisting of an extract prepared by a normal production method and a green tea beverage using the extract of the present invention, and to determine the fragrance. When statistics were taken for the height, the intensity of umami, and the overall harmony, the results shown in Table 2 below were obtained.

[0044]

[Table 2]

[0045]

According to the present invention as described above, it is possible to obtain a green tea concentrated extract having umami and aroma derived from green tea,
By utilizing this, a taste-appropriate beverage can be easily produced. In addition, by using this extract, a beverage having a more luxurious feeling than the actual raw tea leaves can be produced. In addition, by adding this, a beverage having both the umami and aroma unique to high-grade tea leaves can be produced.

Claims (11)

[Claims] 1. A concentrated green tea extract obtained by subjecting a green tea extract from which tannin has been removed in an effective amount for improving the efficiency of freeze concentration to freeze concentration. 2. The green tea extract is made from tea leaves cultivated by coating.
The extract described. 3. The extract according to claim 1, wherein the green tea extract is made from tea leaves of covered tea. 4. The extract according to claim 1, wherein the “tannin concentration: theanine concentration” is about “9: 1” to “11: 1”. 5. A beverage comprising the extract according to any one of claims 1 to 4. 6. A method of using the extract according to any one of claims 1 to 4 as a flavor control agent or a flavor control agent for beverages. 7. A method of using polyvinyl polypyrrolidone for converting a green tea extract into an extract suitable for a freeze concentration method. 8. The method according to claim 6, wherein the amount of the polyvinyl polypyrrolidone added is about 0.2% to 0.6% with respect to the green tea extract to be added. 9. A method for converting low-grade tea into high-grade tea by adding the extract according to any one of claims 1 to 4. 10. The beverage according to claim 5, which is a green tea beverage in a closed container. 11. After adding and dissolving ascorbic acid or ascorbic acid sodium salt in warm water and adding green tea leaves to extract green tea, adding polyvinylpolypyrrolidone, filtering, and freeze-concentrating, A method for obtaining a green tea umami component-rich concentrated liquid in which the aroma derived from green tea is retained.