JP2008206414A - Method for producing processed tea leaf, and processed tea leaf - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a new method for producing processed tea leaves, which is capable of producing the processed tea leaves excellent in flavor in spite of containing methylated catechin, and to provide the processed tea leaves. <P>SOLUTION: This method for producing the processed tea leaves having the black tea flavor includes using raw tea leaves of a kind having a high content of methylated catechin and having a hot air treatment process of removing water while suppressing disappearance of methylated catechin by stirring raw tea leaves at a low temperature of 60-80°C. Furthermore, the method which develops the black tea flavor, can increase the content of theaflavin without remarkably lowering the content of the methylated catechin or requiring a fermentation step, so as to enable the manufacture of the processed tea leaves presenting the black tea flavor. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a processed tea leaf containing a component that reduces allergic symptoms such as hay fever.

Methylated catechins contained in tea leaves of black tea varieties such as Benifumi, Benfuji, Benihon, etc. have been confirmed to be effective against allergic diseases such as hay fever, chronic rhinitis, atopic dermatitis and asthma. (For example, refer nonpatent literature 1).
Therefore, although there is a desire to take the methylated catechin as a natural beverage as a tea drink rather than a drug, mainly for pregnant women who suffer from hay fever and those who regularly use other drugs, When the tea leaves of the varieties containing are finished as black tea requiring an oxidative fermentation process, methylated catechins are drastically reduced, and thus the above-mentioned demand cannot be satisfied.

For this reason, at present, the tea leaves of Benifumi and others have a process as shown in FIG. 2 in order to make them contain methylated catechins, despite being originally improved as a variety of black tea. It is finished as a green tea by the green tea manufacturing method which does not require an oxidative fermentation process, and is supplied to the market (for example, refer patent document 1).
However, in the process of manufacturing by the green tea manufacturing method, the tea-based fragrance and taste inherent in the tea leaves such as Benifumi are lost, and the resulting green tea has a thin fragrance and becomes difficult to drink with strong astringency and bitterness. I'm stuck. For this reason, there are also cases where green tea made from Benifumi and other green teas are blended to make it easier to drink.
From such a background, establishment of the manufacturing method of the processed tea leaf which is excellent in black tea type | system | group flavor and is easy to drink was desired while containing methylated catechin.
August 28, 2006 Asahi Shimbun JP 2005-60277 A

  The present invention has been made in view of such a background, and includes a novel processed tea leaf production method and a processed tea leaf that can produce a processed tea leaf excellent in flavor while containing methylated catechins. Development is a technical issue.

That is, the method for producing a processed tea leaf according to claim 1 is a method for producing a processed tea leaf using a variety of raw tea leaves having a high methylated catechin content, wherein the method comprises subjecting the fresh tea leaves to a low temperature of 60 to 80 ° C. It is characterized by having a hot air treatment step for removing moisture while suppressing the disappearance of methylated catechins by stirring and developing a tea flavor.
According to the present invention, the content of methylated catechin is not significantly reduced, the content of theaflavin can be increased without requiring a fermentation step, and a processed tea leaf exhibiting a tea flavor can be produced. .

In addition to the above-mentioned requirements, the method for producing a processed tea leaf according to claim 2 is characterized in that during the hot air treatment step, the blue is killed at a high temperature of 100 ° C. or higher.
According to this invention, the activity of oxidase can be stopped, and the reduction of methylated catechin can be stopped. Furthermore, by selecting the timing of blue killing, it is possible to appropriately select the amount of theaflavin produced and to obtain a desired flavor.

Furthermore, the method for producing a processed tea leaf according to claim 3 is characterized in that, in addition to the above requirements, the hot air treatment step is performed by a roughing machine or a leaf cutter having only a scooping hand.
According to this invention, it is possible to avoid the methylated catechin from being destroyed due to pressure applied to the tea leaves.
In addition, as a device for performing the hot-air treatment process, a product obtained by simply modifying an existing device is applied, so that a production line for processed tea leaves can be constructed at a low cost.

In addition to the above requirements, the method for producing a processed tea leaf according to claim 4 is characterized in that the processed tea leaf is finally pulverized by a pulverizer and processed so as to be consumed in its entirety.
According to the present invention, the processed tea leaf can be easily drunk as a tea beverage without the need for a teapot simply by mixing it with water or hot water. Further, not only does the processing of the tea shells become unnecessary, but also methylation contained in the processed tea leaf It becomes possible to take catechin and strictinin without leaving.

A processed tea leaf according to claim 5 is manufactured by the method according to claim 1, 2, 3 or 4.
According to the present invention, processed tea leaves using raw tea leaves of a variety having a high content of methylated catechins such as Beni Fuuki can be made excellent in tea-based flavor and easy to drink.

Furthermore, the processed tea leaf according to claim 6 is characterized in that, in addition to the requirement according to claim 5, methylated catechin is contained in an amount of 1 gram or more per 100 grams of dry weight.
According to this invention, the antiallergic effect by the processed tea leaves can be made sufficient.

Furthermore, the processed tea leaf according to claim 7 is characterized in that, in addition to the requirements of claim 4, 5 or 6, theaflavin contains 50 milligrams or more per 100 grams of dry weight.
According to this invention, the flavor of processed tea leaves can be made the same as that of black tea.

Furthermore, in addition to the requirements of claim 4, 5, 6 or 7, the processed tea leaves according to claim 8 are the same as the fresh tea leaves. , Ooba Soryu, Kanaya Midori, Yamato Midori, Okumidori, Kaoru, Benihikari, and Ryofu.
According to this invention, the antiallergic effect by the processed tea leaves can be made sufficient.
The above problems can be solved by using the configuration of the invention described in each of the claims as a means.

According to the present invention, a tea leaf beverage excellent in flavor can be produced while containing methylated catechins, and anyone from children to adults can drink it without feeling uncomfortable, and moreover, pregnant women and other drugs are regularly used. It becomes possible to provide tea beverages that can be consumed with peace of mind even by those who are.
As a result, the market for leaf tea, which has been sluggish due to the widespread use of plastic bottle drinks, can be activated.

Hereinafter, the best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described.
It should be noted that the following embodiments can be appropriately modified within the scope of the technical idea of the present invention.

The processed tea leaf of the present invention contains methylated catechin having an antiallergic effect and theaflavin exhibiting black tea flavor, and contains 1 g or more of methylated catechin per 100 grams of dry weight, and theaflavin contains 100 weight of dry weight. Contains 50 milligrams or more per gram. The processed tea leaves of the present invention are made from raw tea leaves of varieties with a high methylated catechin content, and examples include Beni Fuki, Beni Fuji, Beni Honor, Yamakai, Sugase, Yutaka Midori, and large leaves. The raw material is one or more kinds of raw tea leaves from Soryu, Kanaya Midori, Yamato Midori, Okumidori, Kaori, Benihikari, and Ryofu. New varieties appearing in the future can also be used as raw materials.
By the way, the above-mentioned Benifumi is a tea variety that was cultivated in 1993 by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries / Tea Experiment Station (currently the National Institute of Agricultural and Food Sciences, National Institute of Vegetable and Tea Industry). It has been improved as a variety.

Next, the method for producing the processed tea leaves of the present invention will be described. This method is a method for obtaining processed tea leaves by sequentially treating fresh tea leaves in a hot air treatment step 1 and a drying step 2, as shown in FIG. .
In addition, the powdery process tea leaves shall be obtained by adding the powder process 3 to the said process.

Here, the hot air treatment step 1 is the same water content as at the end of the intermediate or brewing process in the green tea production process while suppressing the disappearance of methylated catechins by stirring fresh tea leaves at a low temperature of 50 to 90 ° C. It is a step of removing water to a certain extent, and at this time, a part of catechin is actively oxidized and polymerized to produce an appropriate amount of theaflavin (a red pigment peculiar to black tea).
In addition, as an example of a device for performing hot air treatment, a roughing machine or leaf punch used in the production of green tea is adopted, and in order not to apply pressure to the tea leaves, the grudges are removed and only the scooping hands are in contact with the tea leaves. I tried to do it.

Further, in the hot air treatment step 1, there is provided a step of killing blue at a high temperature of 100 ° C. or higher. As an example, the first hot air treatment step 11 is stirred at a low temperature of 60 ° C. for 10 to 20 minutes, In the second hot air treatment step 12, stirring at a low temperature of 70 ° C. is carried out for 10 to 20 minutes, and then in the third hot air treatment step 13 stirring at a high temperature of 100 ° C. is carried out for 10 to 20 minutes to perform blue killing. In the fourth hot air treatment step 14, stirring was performed at a low temperature of 80 ° C. for 10 to 20 minutes.
Here, the term "blue killing" means a treatment for stopping the reduction of methylated catechins by stopping the action of oxidase by applying a high temperature of 100 ° C or higher to tea leaves.
Therefore, by appropriately changing the processing time and the processing temperature of the process preceding the third hot air processing process 13 and selecting the timing of the blue killing, the production amount of theaflavin is selected and the flavor of the processed tea leaves is adjusted. Is possible.

In the drying step 2, the tea leaves after the treatment in the hot air treatment step 1 are further treated with a moisture content of 6% D.D. B. It is a step of drying to the extent.
In addition, as an example of an apparatus for performing the drying process, a band-type dryer that is also used in a green tea manufacturing factory was adopted.

The powder process 3 is a process for making the processed tea leaves into a powder having a particle size of about several tens of μm. By the way, by making such a powder form, it is possible to drink processed tea leaves easily as tea drinks without the need for a teapot simply by mixing with water or hot water, and further processing of tea shells is not necessary, and processed tea leaves It is possible to ingest all methylated catechins and strictinins contained in.
A ball mill was adopted as an example of an apparatus for performing the grinding treatment.
Incidentally, when the processed tea leaves are provided as leaf tea, the powder process 3 is omitted.

Raw material tea leaves: Benifumi Ki first hot air treatment step: Stirred at a low temperature of 60 ° C. for 15 minutes.
Second hot air treatment step: The mixture was stirred at a low temperature of 70 ° C. for 15 minutes.
Third hot-air treatment step: Blue killing was performed by stirring for 15 minutes at a high temperature of 100 ° C.
Fourth hot air treatment step: The mixture was stirred at a low temperature of 80 ° C. for 15 minutes.
Drying process: tea leaves with a moisture content of 6% B. Powder process dried to: Tea leaves were pulverized to a particle size of several tens of μm.

And the component contained in the processed tea leaf (sample 1) of this invention manufactured based on the Example mentioned above, the component contained in the processed tea leaf (sample 2) manufactured by the green tea manufacturing method described in the background of the invention, green tea varieties Table 1 shows the components contained in the bancha (sample 3) made from green tea leaves and the ingredients contained in the black tea (sample 4) made from tea varieties of black tea.
The sample 1 and the sample 2 are manufactured by using the same raw tea leaves (Kenfumi Takaki) as a raw material with different manufacturing methods, and the samples 3 and 4 are commercially available.
The component detection method is to analyze the leachate obtained by leaching 100 g of tea leaves in 2000 ml of distilled water for 24 hours by liquid chromatography and calculate the content.

As can be seen from Table 1 above, the processed tea leaves (sample 1) of the present invention contain the same amount of theaflavin (TF) as the tea (sample 4) that has undergone the oxidative fermentation process, while catechins (EGC, EC, EGCG, ECG) has not decreased extremely.
Moreover, the catechin content rate at the time of hot water extraction of the processed tea leaves (sample 1) of the present invention is EGCG 4.8%, ECG 1.5%, EGC 2.8%, and EC 1.0%. Further, this hot water extract solution contains 1.7% of (−)-epigallocatechin 3- (3 ″ -O-methyl) gallate as methylated catechin, and (−)-epicatechin 3- (3 ″ -O—). It contains 0.45% methyl) gallate.

It is process drawing which shows the manufacturing method of the processed tea leaf which exhibits the black tea flavor of this invention. It is process drawing which shows the existing green tea manufacturing method.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Hot air processing process 11 1st hot air processing process 12 2nd hot air processing process 13 3rd hot air processing process 14 4th hot air processing process 2 Drying process 3 Powder process

Claims (8)

  In a method for producing processed tea leaves using a variety of raw tea leaves having a high content of methylated catechins, this method involves stirring the raw tea leaves at a low temperature of 60 to 80 ° C. while suppressing the disappearance of methylated catechins. A method for producing processed tea leaves, which comprises a hot air treatment step for removing water and exhibits a black tea flavor.   2. The method for producing processed tea leaves according to claim 1, wherein the green tea is killed at a high temperature of 100 [deg.] C. or higher during the hot air treatment step.   The method for producing processed tea leaves according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the hot air treatment step is performed by a roughing machine or a leaf cutter having only a crawling hand.   The method for producing processed tea leaves according to claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein the processed tea leaves are finally pulverized by a pulverizer and processed so that the whole amount can be consumed.   Processed tea leaves produced by the method according to claim 1, 2, 3 or 4, and exhibiting black tea flavor.   6. The processed tea leaf according to claim 5, comprising 1 g or more of methylated catechin per 100 g of dry weight.   7. The processed tea leaf according to claim 4, 5 or 6, wherein theaflavin contains 50 milligrams or more per 100 grams of dry weight.   The fresh tea leaves can be red beetle, red fuji, red praise, Yamakai, Sugae, Yutaka Midori, Ooba Midori, Kanaya Midori, Yamato Midori, Okumidori, Kaori, Benihikari, Ryofu The processed tea leaves according to claim 4, 5, 6 or 7, wherein the processed tea leaves are one kind or plural kinds.

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