JP2007110990A - Green tea drink raw material liquid - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a green tea drink raw material liquid suppressed in oxidation and excellent in flavor through suppressing oxygen activation while preventing loss of flavor components by heat treatment. <P>SOLUTION: The green tea drink raw material liquid contains dimethyl sulfide (a), linalool (b), fresh leaf alcohol (c), caffeine (d) and tannin (e). The content ratio of each ingredient is b/(a) of 1.5-120, c/a of 1-66, and d/e of ≤0.2. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a green tea beverage, and in particular, to a raw material liquid for a green tea beverage excellent in flavor.

  In a normal tea manufacturing process, tea leaves are heated (steamed) in the first stage. As a result, the enzyme activity of tea leaves is lost, and oxidation of the components can be prevented. The heat-treated tea leaves are made into crude tea through a twisting process, a drying process, and the like. However, in the production of containerized green tea beverages, in addition to the tea leaf processing step, repeated heat load is applied in the beverage processing step, so the green leaf-like aroma is lost compared to drinking tea at home, I could not enjoy the original characteristics of tea. However, if heat treatment is not performed, the tea leaves are fermented by the action of the oxidase contained in the tea leaves, and there is a problem that the flavor components are changed and the flavor unique to green tea is lost.

Efforts have been made to reduce the heat load in order to solve these problems. For example, as disclosed in Patent Document 1, a method of squeezing fresh tea leaves has been proposed. However, even in Patent Document 1, the squeezing process is performed after steaming fresh tea leaves to inactivate the oxidatively active enzyme. Thus, in order to prevent the tea leaf quality from changing before processing due to the action of the oxidatively active enzyme, a method using unheated fresh tea leaves has not been conventionally performed.
Patent No. 3537794

  In view of the above problems, the present invention provides a green tea beverage raw material liquid that is suppressed in oxidation and excellent in aroma by suppressing enzyme activity while preventing loss of aroma components by heat treatment. Objective.

  In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, a green tea beverage raw material liquid comprising dimethyl sulfide (a), linalool (b), green leaf alcohol (c), caffeine (d), and tannin (e). A green tea beverage raw material liquid is provided in which the content ratio is b / a = 1.5 to 120 and c / a = 1 to 66, and d / e = 0.2 or less Is done.

  In addition, from another aspect of the present invention, a step of freezing fresh tea leaves, a step of mixing frozen fresh tea leaves with water and crushing and squeezing the juice, and filtering the obtained crushed juice and obtaining an extract There is provided a method for producing a green tea beverage raw material liquid comprising a step and a step of heating the obtained extract.

  In the pulverizing and squeezing step, an antioxidant, preferably L-ascorbic acid and / or sodium L-ascorbate can be added in advance.

  In the heating step, the extract can be heated at 95 ° C. to 140 ° C. for 20 seconds to 360 seconds, and can be heated after filling the sealed container or before filling.

  The green tea beverage raw material liquid produced by the above method contains dimethyl sulfide (a), linalool (b), green leaf alcohol (c), caffeine (d), and tannin (e), and their content ratios. Are b / a = 1.5 to 120, c / a = 1 to 66, and d / e = 0.2 or less.

  According to the present invention, raw tea leaves are freed from fresh tea leaves, crushed and squeezed, and heat-treated after extraction to inactivate the oxidase and contain a large amount of aroma components of tea. A liquid can be provided.

  The present invention is a specific product with a fresh fragrance excellent in green leaf-like aroma by freezing and pulverizing fresh tea leaves without performing the heating process (steaming) of fresh tea leaves normally performed in rough tea processing. It is possible to obtain a green tea beverage raw material liquid having a high aroma ratio and a reduced bitterness. Furthermore, the obtained green tea drinking raw material liquid is heat-treated to inactivate the oxidatively active enzyme derived from fresh tea leaves, thereby maintaining the quality stability during storage and secondary processing.

  The green tea beverage raw material liquid of the present invention can be produced by the following procedure.

  First, the harvested fresh tea leaves are frozen. Any conventionally known method can be used as a method for freezing fresh tea leaves. For example, fresh tea leaves may be placed in a low-temperature atmosphere (for example, a refrigerator), or mixed with a small amount of water soaked in fresh tea leaves to be frozen, but may be frozen by other methods. You can also. Of these, those that are frozen by blowing a refrigerant or cooled while blowing a mist of cold water are preferred. The tea leaves are preferably frozen at −5 ° C. or lower, and particularly preferably −10 ° C. or lower, which is below the maximum ice crystal formation zone, in order to avoid cell destruction of the tea leaves.

  Next, the frozen tea leaves are mixed with cold water and crushed and squeezed. It is preferable to use ion-exchanged water at 0 ° C. to 25 ° C. for the cold water. The frozen tea leaves are crushed and squeezed with low temperature water at 25 ° C. or lower, preferably 15 ° C. or lower, more preferably 5 ° C. or lower, most preferably around 0 ° C., thereby suppressing the action of oxidatively active enzymes derived from fresh tea leaves. be able to.

  The mixing ratio of tea leaves and cold water may be, for example, about 1: 4, but is not limited thereto, and may be appropriately adjusted depending on the type of tea leaves, the temperature of the cold water, the flavor of the target tea beverage, and the like. For crushing tea leaves, it is possible to use a machine that crushes ordinary food raw materials. For example, an ultramizer, a mixer, a hammer mill, a homogenizer, or the like can be used. In particular, a mixer is preferably used.

  Furthermore, in this crushing and squeezing step, when mixing tea leaves and cold water in advance, an antioxidant may be added. By adding an antioxidant during pulverization and squeezing, the squeezed juice can be prevented from being oxidized. As the antioxidant, an antioxidant recognized as a food additive can be used. In particular, L-ascorbic acid and sodium L-ascorbate are preferably used.

  The addition amount of the antioxidant is effective if it is 10 ppm or more with respect to the fresh tea leaves. Moreover, although an upper limit is not specifically limited, When cost and flavor are considered, it is preferable that it is 2500 ppm or less.

  Next, the obtained juice is filtered to obtain an extract. As the filtration method, any conventionally known method can be used. For example, a method of filtering with a metal mesh, flannel cloth, diatomaceous earth, a ceramic membrane, or other membranes, or a method of filtering using a centrifuge or the like may be used.

  In the present invention, the extract thus obtained is heated. This heat treatment deactivates the oxidase and suppresses the reactivation of the oxidatively active enzyme derived from fresh tea leaves that has been suppressed by freezing of the tea leaves.

  The heating condition is not particularly limited as long as it can inactivate the oxidatively active enzyme. For example, “tea chemistry” (Asakura Shoten Co., Ltd., P53) describes heating at 95 ° C. for 20 seconds or more. Has been. In the method of the present invention, it is particularly preferable to heat at 95 ° C. to 140 ° C. for 20 seconds to 360 seconds.

  By performing such a heating step, a green tea beverage raw material liquid having a fresh fragrance excellent in tea-like aroma inherent to tea can be obtained by inactivating oxidatively active enzyme derived from fresh tea leaves. Moreover, quality stability can be maintained also when storing the obtained green tea beverage raw material liquid or when performing secondary processing.

  The green tea beverage raw material liquid obtained by the above method is stored or used immediately for secondary processing for producing a green tea beverage, but may be used as it is as a tea beverage without further processing. . The green tea beverage raw material liquid can be processed or used as it is as a green tea beverage in a container such as metal, PET, or paper.

  According to the method of the present invention as described above, it is possible to obtain a green tea beverage raw material liquid having a specific aroma ratio with a fresh aroma excellent in a green leaf-like aroma and a bitter taste suppressed.

  The green tea beverage raw material liquid according to the method of the present invention contains, in particular, linalool having a flower scent, green leaf alcohol (cis-3-hexenol) having a refreshing green leaf scent, and dimethyl sulfide having a green seaweed scent, and the green tea beverage raw material liquid of the present invention Has a characteristic aroma component content ratio.

  The content ratio of the aromatic component peculiar to the green tea beverage raw material liquid of the present invention is such that the content ratio of dimethyl sulfide (a) and linalool (b) is b / a = 1.5 to 120, and dimethyl sulfide (a). And green leaf alcohol (c) content ratio is c / a = 1-66.

  When the content ratio b / a of dimethyl sulfide (a) and linalool (b) is too small, freshness is lacking. On the other hand, when the content ratio b / a is too large, only the flower aroma is emphasized, and a sense of incongruity is generated as a tea beverage. Therefore, it is preferable that it is the range of b / a = 1.5-120, It is more preferable that it is the range of b / a = 2-98 especially, Furthermore, it is the range of b / a = 4-78. Most preferred.

  Moreover, when the content ratio c / a of dimethyl sulfide (a) and green leaf alcohol (c) is too small, freshness is lacking like linalool, and conversely, when the content ratio c / a is too large, the green leaf-like odor is emphasized. And uncomfortable as a tea beverage. Therefore, c / a = 1 to 66 is preferable, c / a = 3 to 58 is more preferable, and c / a = 4 to 50 is most preferable. .

  With the content ratio of the fragrance components as described above, the fresh fragrance and the refreshing green leaf fragrance are harmonized in the green tea beverage, and an excellent fragrance balance can be realized.

  Furthermore, the green tea beverage raw material liquid according to the present invention is characterized in that the content ratio d / e of caffeine (d) and tannin (e) is 0.2 or less. When the content ratio d / e of caffeine (d) and tannin (e) is too large, the bitterness becomes strong, but the green tea beverage raw material liquid of the present invention is d / e = 0.2 or less, and the bitterness is suppressed. It has excellent taste.

  Next, according to the manufacturing method of this invention, the green tea drink raw material liquid was adjusted, and the aromatic component and the taste component were analyzed. The conditions of each example and comparative example are described below. The analysis method is as follows.

<Aroma analysis conditions>
Sample preparation: The product sample was diluted 5 times to obtain a sample solution. 10 ml of the sample solution was taken into a vial and 3 g of NaCl was added. Further, 5 μl of 0.1% cyclohexanol was added as an internal standard solution. Extraction of aroma components was analyzed by GC / MS using a solid layer micro extraction (SPME) method.

Analysis conditions: SPME: Divinylbenzene / Carboxen / Polydimethylsiloxane,
Extraction: 60 ° C., 30 minutes GC / MS: Agilent 5973N,
Column: DB-WAX (0.25mmiI.D. × 60m × 0.25μm),
Flow rate: 1.0ml / min,
Oven: 35 ℃ (3min) ～ 5 ℃ / min ～ 240 ℃ (5min),
Inlet: -50 ℃ ～ 12 ℃ / s ～ 240 ℃, splitless.

<Analysis conditions for caffeine and tannin components>
Caffeine: Measured by HPLC according to the method of Goto et al. (T. Goto, Y. Yoshida, M. kiso and H. Nagashima, Journal of Chromatography A, 749 (1996) 295-299).

  Tannin: Measured by the iron tartrate method.

[Example 1]
100 g of frozen fresh tea leaves are mixed with 400 g of cold water (0 ° C.) and 0.1 mg of L-ascorbic acid (BASF Takeda Vitamin Co., Ltd.) and mixed with a mixer (Mixer MX-V100, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.) for 60 seconds. It was crushed and squeezed. Thereafter, sodium hydrogen carbonate was added to the filtrate obtained by filtration with a metal mesh (mesh size 80) and flannel cloth to adjust the pH to 6.0. Then, the said adjustment liquid was filled into the metal can, and the heating process of 110 degreeC and 60 second was added, and the product was obtained.

[Example 2]
A product was obtained in the same manner as in Example 1 except that 100 g of frozen fresh tea leaves were mixed with 400 g of cold water (0 ° C.) and 0.5 mg of L-ascorbic acid (BASF Takeda Vitamin Co., Ltd.).

[Example 3]
A product was obtained in the same manner as in Example 1 except that 100 g of frozen fresh tea leaves were mixed with 400 g of water (15 ° C.) and 0.5 mg of L-ascorbic acid (BASF Takeda Vitamin Co., Ltd.).

[Example 4]
A product was obtained in the same manner as in Example 1 except that 100 g of frozen fresh tea leaves were mixed with 400 g of water (25 ° C.) and 0.5 mg of L-ascorbic acid (BASF Takeda Vitamin Co., Ltd.).

[Example 5]
A product was obtained in the same manner as in Example 1 except that 100 g of frozen fresh tea leaves were mixed with 400 g of cold water (0 ° C.) and 1.5 mg of L-ascorbic acid (BASF Takeda Vitamin Co., Ltd.).

[Example 6]
A product was obtained in the same manner as in Example 1 except that 100 g of frozen fresh tea leaves were mixed with 400 g of cold water (0 ° C.) and 3.0 mg of L-ascorbic acid (BASF Takeda Vitamin Co., Ltd.).

[Example 7]
A product was obtained in the same manner as in Example 1 except that 100 g of frozen fresh tea leaves were mixed with 400 g of cold water (0 ° C.) and 4.5 mg of L-ascorbic acid (BASF Takeda Vitamin Co., Ltd.).

[Example 8]
A product was obtained in the same manner as in Example 1 except that 100 g of frozen fresh tea leaves were mixed with 400 g of cold water (0 ° C.) and 10 mg of L-ascorbic acid (BASF Takeda Vitamin Co., Ltd.).

[Example 9]
A product was obtained in the same manner as in Example 1 except that 100 g of frozen fresh tea leaves were mixed with 400 g of cold water (0 ° C.) and 25 mg of L-ascorbic acid (BASF Takeda Vitamin Co., Ltd.).

[Comparative Example 1]
Cold water 400g (0 degreeC) was mixed with 100 g of frozen fresh tea leaves, and pulverized and squeezed for 60 seconds with a mixer (Mixer MX-V100 manufactured by Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.). Thereafter, sodium hydrogen carbonate was added to the filtrate obtained by filtration with a metal mesh (mesh size 80) and flannel cloth to adjust the pH to 6.0. Then, the said adjustment liquid was filled into the metal can, and the heating process for 110 degreeC and 60 second was added, and the product was obtained.

[Comparative Example 2]
A product was obtained in the same manner as in Comparative Example 1 except that 100 g of frozen fresh tea leaves were mixed with 400 g of warm water (45 ° C.) and 0.5 mg of L-ascorbic acid (BASF Takeda Vitamin Co., Ltd.).

[Comparative Example 3]
A product was obtained in the same manner as in Comparative Example 1 except that 100 g of fresh tea leaves were steamed with saturated steam for 60 seconds and cooled, and 400 g of cold water (0 ° C.) was mixed.

[Comparative Example 4]
A product was obtained in the same manner as in Comparative Example 1, except that 100 g of crude tea obtained by ordinary rough tea processing (* 1) was mixed with 400 g of cold water (0 ° C.).

* 1: Fresh tea leaves-Steamed heat-Coarse koji-Spiral twist-Medium koji-Seiko-Dried-Aracha [Comparative Example 5]
A product was obtained in the same manner as in Comparative Example 1 except that 100 g of crude tea obtained by ordinary rough tea processing was mixed with 400 g of cold water (0 ° C.) and 0.5 mg of L-ascorbic acid (BASF Takeda Vitamin Co., Ltd.). It was.

The results are shown in Table 1.

  From Table 1, it was shown that the Example according to the manufacturing method of this invention has the outstanding aroma and taste. On the other hand, all of the comparative examples are inferior in aroma and taste. In particular, Comparative Examples 4 to 5 using the heat-treated tea leaves are evaluated as having a weak fresh green leaf-like aroma and a strong bitter taste.・ It was shown that it greatly affects the taste.

[Prototype Example 1]
To 300 g of the green tea beverage raw material solution obtained in Example 2, 0.3 g of L-ascorbic acid (BASF Takeda Vitamin Co., Ltd.) was added, and the pH was adjusted to 6.0 with sodium hydrogen carbonate, while ion-exchanged water was used. Was added to obtain a prepared solution adjusted (mesh) so that Brix was 0.3. Then, the prepared liquid was filled into a metal can and sterilized by heating at 121 ° C. for 10 minutes to obtain a can green tea beverage.

[Prototype Example 2]
A can green tea beverage was obtained in the same manner as in Prototype Example 1 using 300 g of the green tea beverage raw material liquid obtained in Comparative Example 5.

[Discussion]
As a result of the sensory evaluation of the prototype example 1 and the prototype example 2 in the glass, the tendency of the sensory evaluation obtained in the example 1 appeared in the prototype example 1, and both the flavor and taste were good with good balance. On the other hand, with respect to Prototype Example 2, the tendency of sensory evaluation obtained in Comparative Example 5 appeared, and the fresh green leaf-like aroma was weak and bitterness was felt. From this, it was shown that the tendency of the green tea beverage raw material liquid also appears in the secondary processed green tea beverage product.

Claims (6)

A green tea beverage raw material liquid,
It contains dimethyl sulfide (a), linalool (b), green leaf alcohol (c), caffeine (d), and tannin (e).
b / a = 1.5 to 120 and c / a = 1 to 66
And
Green tea beverage raw material liquid with d / e = 0.2 or less. A process of freezing fresh tea leaves;
Mixing frozen fresh tea leaves with water and crushing and squeezing;
Filtering the obtained crushed juice and obtaining an extract;
Heating the obtained extract,
A method for producing a green tea beverage raw material liquid.   The method for producing a green tea beverage raw material liquid according to claim 2, wherein an antioxidant is added in advance in the pulverizing and squeezing step.   The method for producing a green tea beverage raw material liquid according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the antioxidant is L-ascorbic acid and / or sodium L-ascorbate.   The said heating process is a manufacturing method of the green tea drink raw material liquid as described in any one of Claims 2-4 which is a process of heating the said extract at 95 to 140 degreeC for 20 second-360 second. Manufactured by the method according to any one of claims 2 to 5,
It contains dimethyl sulfide (a), linalool (b), green leaf alcohol (c), caffeine (d), and tannin (e).
b / a = 1.5 to 120 and c / a = 1 to 66
And
d / e = 0.2 or less Green tea beverage raw material liquid characterized by the above-mentioned.