JP2013102750A - Tea flower-containing beer-like beverage and method for production of the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a beer-like beverage which provide a palatable bitter taste, and is excellent in foam stability, and a production method thereof.SOLUTION: The beer-like beverage contains tea flowers and/or a tea flower extract.

Description

  The present invention relates to a novel beer-like beverage comprising a tea flower and / or tea flower extract and a method for producing the same.

  The bitterness derived from hops and its bubbling have a great influence on the character formation of beer-like beverages including beer, sparkling liquor and non-alcoholic beer.

  In recent years, with the diversification of consumer preferences, many new products have been launched in beer-like beverages, and some of the previously used materials have been replaced with other materials. The addition of new flavors and functions is being promoted by the addition. However, when hops are replaced with other materials, the original bitterness of beer is often impaired, and the phenomenon that foam retention is lowered often occurs. Therefore, in the production of beer-like beverages, materials that are advantageous in realizing bitterness and foam retention comparable to hops and imparting new functions are required.

  On the other hand, tea flowers, which are tea flower parts, are used for food and drink in some areas, just like leaves, and it is known that when added to tea, it can impart a sweet and refreshing fragrance to tea ( JP-A-2-069143: Patent Document 1, JP-A-2-167031: Patent Document 2).

  In addition, various health promoting functions have been reported for tea flowers in recent years, and application to health foods is expected.

  For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-070018 (Patent Document 3) discloses neutral fat absorption inhibition and health food containing a tea flower extract.

  Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-024654 (Patent Document 4) describes an antiallergic agent containing, as an active ingredient, an extract obtained by extracting a flower part of tea or Assam tea.

  Thus, although the existence of various uses relating to tea flowers is known, use of tea flowers in the production of beer-like beverages has not been reported. In particular, there is no report of using tea flowers as a substitute for part or all of hops.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-069143 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-167031 JP 2006-070018 A JP 2008-024654 A

  The present inventors have now found that by adding tea flowers and / or tea flower extracts, it is possible to produce a beer-like beverage that has a pleasant bitter taste and is excellent in foam. The present invention is based on such knowledge.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a beer-like beverage comprising a tea flower and / or tea flower extract and a method for producing the same.

According to the present invention, the following inventions are provided.
(1) A beer-like beverage comprising tea flower and / or tea flower extract.
(2) The beer-like beverage according to (1), wherein the content of tea flower and / or tea flower extract is 1-1000 mg per liter of beer-like beverage on the basis of its dry weight.
(3) A method for producing a beer-like beverage, comprising a step of adding a tea flower and / or tea flower extract during the beverage production process.
(4) The method according to (3), wherein the content of tea flower and / or tea flower extract is 1-1000 mg per liter of beer-like beverage, based on its dry weight.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a novel beer-like beverage that contains tea flowers and / or tea flower extracts and that has a pleasant bitter taste and is excellent in foaminess. In addition, as an alternative to all or part of hops, beer-like beverages using tea flowers and / or tea flower extracts have not been known so far and are not found in commercial products. It is advantageous in that it can provide the required new type of beverage.

It is a figure which shows the result of having added 0-100 mg of tea flower extracts to the fermented alcoholic beverage which does not use the wheat manufactured without hop addition, and having measured the foam amount and foam retention time. It is a figure which shows the result of having added the tea flower extract to beer-like alcoholic beverage after heat-processing at 60 degreeC, 80 degreeC, or 100 degreeC, and measuring the foam retention time.

Detailed description of the invention

Beer-like beverage / tea flower or tea flower extract The beer-like beverage of the present invention is characterized by comprising a tea flower and / or tea flower extract. It is a surprising fact that such a beer-like beverage can provide a peculiar bitter taste that is palatable, has a mouthfeel, and does not impair the beer flavor, as shown in the examples below. In addition, tea flowers and tea flower extracts are also recognized as a gastric protective action and anti-diabetic action, which is advantageous for imparting a health promoting function to beer-like beverages.

  In the present invention, “tea flowers” refers to the flower parts of tea (Camellia sinensis, also known as Thea sinensis), that is, so-called flowers, flower buds and buds containing pistil, stamens, petals, camellia, leaves, flower axes, floral patterns, etc. And so on.

 The raw material of the tea flower is not particularly limited, but the raw material of the tea flower is preferably a camellia plant.

 The tea flowers of the present invention may be used as they are or after being dried, and these tea flowers may be further subjected to a treatment such as crushing, crushing, cutting or grinding.

 The tea flower extract of the present invention may be a commercially available product, or may be obtained by directly extracting from the tea flower subjected to the above treatment.

 More specifically, the tea flower extract may be obtained according to a conventional method, and can be obtained by extracting tea flowers with a solvent and further concentrating, sterilizing, drying, and sieving as desired. As an example of a suitable manufacturing method, first, tea flowers are extracted using a solvent such as methanol while heating. Next, the obtained liquid is concentrated by an evaporator and dried by freeze drying or the like to obtain a solid. Next, the obtained solid matter is sieved to remove impurities and a tea flower extract can be obtained.

  In addition, the tea flower or tea flower extract of the present invention is preferably used by heating in advance in view of the improvement in foam retention of beer-like beverages. Thus, according to one embodiment, the tea flower or tea flower extract is a heat reaction product.

 The form of the tea flower extract is not particularly limited, and may be liquid, solid, or powder, but powder is preferred.

  The color of the tea flower extract is not particularly limited, but may be light brown to brown. When a light brown to brown tea flower extract is used, a coloring effect can be exerted in a beer-like beverage with low chromaticity, which is advantageous in giving the beverage an appearance similar to beer.

  The tea flower and tea flower extract of the present invention may be used in combination, or may be used alone.

  The content of tea flower and / or tea flower extract in the beer-like beverage of the present invention is not particularly limited, but is preferably 1-1000 mg per liter of beer-like beverage, more preferably 50-150 mg, based on its dry weight. is there. The content of such tea flowers and / or tea flower extracts is particularly advantageous in achieving good bitterness and foam retention in beer-like beverages.

  In the present invention, the “beer-like beverage” to which tea flowers and / or tea flower extracts are added is a characteristic of beer obtained when beer is usually produced, that is, when beer is produced based on fermentation by yeast or the like. For example, beer, happoshu, fermented alcoholic beverages that do not use wheat, fermented malt beverages such as liqueurs, and non-fermented malt beverages such as completely alcohol-free malt beverages. Moreover, as long as it is a beer-like drink, it is not limited to a malt drink.

  Moreover, according to one aspect of the present invention, the beer-like beverage can be provided in the form of a fermented beverage. In the present invention, “fermented beverage” means a beverage fermented with yeast.

  Moreover, according to the preferable aspect of this invention, a beer-like drink is a beer-like alcoholic drink containing alcohol. In the present invention, the term “alcoholic beverage” is used to include a fermented beverage obtained by fermentation with yeast and a beverage to which alcohol is added.

  Moreover, according to another preferable aspect of this invention, a beer-like drink is a malt drink. In the present invention, the “malt beverage” means a beverage mainly composed of wheat and / or wort obtained from malt, and includes a malt soft drink imparted with a refreshing feeling by carbon dioxide gas or the like. Examples of malt beverages include non-fermented malt beverages such as completely alcohol-free (non-alcohol) malt beverages having an alcohol content of 0% by weight, and alcohol-containing malt beverages containing alcohol. Examples of the alcohol-containing malt beverage include a fermented malt beverage obtained by fermentation and a malt beverage to which alcohol has been added. Examples of malt beverages include non-alcohol fermented malt beverages obtained by removing alcohol, other low-boiling components and low-molecular components from fermented malt beverages obtained by fermentation.

According to still another preferred embodiment of the present invention, the beer-like beverage is a fermented alcoholic beverage that does not use wheat. Specifically, it means a beverage fermented by yeast using a carbon source, a nitrogen source, water, and the like as raw materials, and does not use malt as a raw material, but uses soybeans, peas, corn, and the like as raw materials.
Examples of such fermented alcoholic beverages that do not use wheat include beverages classified as “other brewed liquor (foaming) (1)” under the liquor tax law. The beverage according to the present invention can be preferably provided in the form of a fermented alcoholic beverage using at least water, hops, and nitrogen sources such as soybean, corn, pea and the like as raw materials. The beverage according to the present invention includes a beverage obtained by mixing a fermented beverage such as a fermented alcoholic beverage and a non-fermented beverage.

Production method of beer-like beverage According to the present invention, a beer-like beverage can be produced by adding a tea flower or tea flower extract in any of the steps for producing a beer-like beverage according to a conventional method.

  As an example of suitable production of a beer-like beverage, a charging process (saccharification, wort filtration, boiling, wort stationary charging), fermentation (yeast addition, main fermentation, storage), filtration, and bottling (aging) Done in

  In the preparation of the wort, brewing materials such as malt and hops may be used in accordance with conventional methods, for example, auxiliary materials defined by the Liquor Tax Law, nitrogen sources such as protein degradation products and yeast extracts, flavorings, pigments, Other additives such as a foaming / foaming improver, a water quality modifier, and a fermentation aid may be used as desired.

  In addition, beer-like beverages are, for example, (i) distilled under reduced pressure or atmospheric pressure to remove alcohol and low-boiling components, or (ii) removed alcohol and low-molecular components with a reverse osmosis (RO) membrane. Therefore, it can be easily made a non-alcoholic beverage.

  According to a more specific aspect of the present invention, the addition of tea flowers and / or tea flower extracts is performed during or before any of the steps of saccharification, filtration, boiling, fermentation, and ripening as described above. .

  Moreover, according to the more preferable aspect of this invention, addition of a tea flower and / or a tea flower extract is performed after fermentation. Addition after fermentation is preferable in improving foam retention.

  Moreover, the beer-like drink of this invention also includes the non-fermented drink manufactured without passing through a fermentation process. Therefore, according to one aspect, in the method for producing a beer-like beverage, the addition of tea flowers and / or tea flower extract is performed during or before any of the steps of saccharification, filtration and boiling.

  Since tea flower and / or tea flower extract can function as a substitute for hops, in the production of a beer-like beverage, the amount of hops used can be appropriately reduced or hops can be added. The amount of hops to be used can be set as appropriate in consideration of the bitterness and foam retention of the final product, but it is desirable to add no hops in terms of flavor and cost.

  In addition, as described above, it is preferable to heat the tea flower or tea flower extract in consideration of the improvement of foaming. Therefore, according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, it is preferable to heat the tea flower or tea flower extract before or after the step of adding the tea flower or tea flower extract. The tea flower or tea flower extract may be preheated before addition to the beverage, or may be heated together with the beverage after addition to the beverage.

 Although heating temperature is not specifically limited, Preferably it is about 60 to 100 degreeC.

  Moreover, although heating time is not specifically limited, For example, it can be set as about 15 minutes.

  EXAMPLES Hereinafter, although this invention is demonstrated concretely based on an Example, this invention is not limited to these Examples.

Test Example 1: Relationship between the amount of tea flower added and the amount of foam and foam retention time
1-1: Hop-free beer-like alcoholic beverage Beverage -free fermented alcoholic beverages made from soybean protein and using no hops are added to 0-100 mg (0, 20, 40, dry weight per large bottle (633 ml). 60, 80, 100 mg) of tea flower extract was added as it was without heat treatment, and the amount of foam (ml) and foam retention time (seconds) when poured into a cup were confirmed.

The result was as shown in FIG.
It was confirmed that the amount of foam increased as the amount of tea extract added increased.
In addition, the tendency to increase as the amount of tea extract added increased with respect to foam retention, and the increase tendency of foam retention was higher than that of the foam retention.

1-2: Hop-added beer-like non-alcoholic beverage
Test Example 1 in which 0 to 100 mg (0, 50, 100 mg) of tea flower extract was added to beer-like non-alcoholic beverages produced by adding hops (Kirin Free ^{(registered trademark)} , Soba Sake Co., Ltd., 500 ml) In the same manner, the amount of foam (ml) and the bubble retention time (seconds) when poured into a cup were confirmed.

As a result, the amount of foam increased as the amount of tea extract increased. While it was 66 ml without addition, it was 70 ml when 50 mg of tea flower extract was added, and 74 ml when 100 mg was added.
On the other hand, the bubble retention time increased as the amount of tea flower extract increased. In particular, the foam retention time was 89 seconds without addition, while it was 113 seconds when 50 mg of the tea flower extract was added, and 124 seconds when 100 mg was added.

Test example 2: tea flower heat treatment test
2-1: Heat-treated tea flower 100 mg added tea flower extract was heat-treated and then added to the same beer-like alcoholic beverage as in Test Example 1 to confirm the amount of foam and the foam retention. Specifically, in the test, 100 mg of tea flower extract was added per large bottle, the heat treatment levels were 60 ° C., 80 ° C., 100 ° C., and the heat treatment time was 15 minutes.

As a result, the foam amount was 65 to 71 ml with no significant difference depending on the presence or absence of heat treatment or the level.
On the other hand, the foam retention was as shown in FIG. No treatment <60 ° C. treatment <80 ° C. treatment <100 ° C. and from 60 ° C. to 100 ° C., a tendency was found that the higher the treatment temperature, the better.

2-2: Heat-treated tea flower 150 mg added A test was conducted in the same manner as in 2-1, except that the amount of tea flower added was 150 mg.
As a result, the same tendency as in 2-1, was observed with respect to the amount of foam and the foam retention. It was.

  In addition to the above, when the same test was conducted by heat-treating the tea flower extract at 121 ° C., the foam retention time was shorter than that at the time of 100 ° C. treatment in any case where the added amount of tea flower was 100 mg or 150 mg. ~ 66 seconds.

Test Example 3: Examination of timing for adding tea flower extract In the beer production process [preparation (saccharification → wort filtration → boiling → stilling wort), fermentation (yeast addition, main fermentation, storage), filtration, bottling (aging)] The appropriate timing for adding tea flowers was studied.
The timing is selected from the start of boiling of the wort bread (WP), the whirlpool tank (WpT) fry, the addition of yeast, the day before filtration or just before the filtration. The amount of tea extract added is the tea flower extract per liter of beer as the final concentration. 150 mg.

  The results were as shown in Table 1. In addition after the day before filtration (storage), the foam retention time was particularly long.

Test Example 4: Flavor evaluation
4-1: Hop-free beer-like alcohol-containing beverage A tea flower extract was added to a beer-like alcoholic beverage produced without the addition of hops, and the flavor was evaluated by 10 trained panelists.
Four test groups were added: tea flower extract-free, 100 mg / large bottle (about 158 mg / L), 150 mg / large bottle (about 237 mg / L), 100 ° C. heat-treated product 150 mg / large bottle.
Moreover, the bitterness intensity was scored from 0 to 5 (0 is none and 5 is strong), and a weighted average was taken to obtain an evaluation result.

The results were as shown in Table 2.
The bitterness became stronger as the amount of tea flower extract was increased. In addition, no significant difference in bitterness was observed with and without heat treatment.

In addition, according to the comments of the panelists, some people preferred the addition of 100 mg / large bottle, and some preferred the 150 mg / large bottle.
On the other hand, no comment reminiscent of tea was about aroma or taste.
In addition to the above, 500 mg / L and 1000 mg / L tea flower addition categories were also evaluated, and these also had a good flavor without harming the beer flavor.

4-2: Non- hop beer-like non-alcoholic beverage A tea flower extract was added to a beer-like non-alcoholic beverage produced without hop addition, and flavor was evaluated by six trained panelists.
A non-alcoholic beverage (500 ml) serving as a base was prepared by diluting barley malt extract (PureMolt ZAB) to 5 ° P.
Two test groups were added: tea flower extract-free and tea flower extract 100 mg / medium bottle (500 ml) added.
The bitterness intensity was scored as 1 to 5 (0 weak, 5 strong), and the evaluation result was obtained by taking a weighted average.

  The results were as shown in Table 3. In the tea flower extract 100 mg / medium bottle, the bitterness score was doubled compared to no addition.

  In addition to the above, the flavor was compared between the case of addition of bitter components of beer (30% isoalpha acid (Hopsteiner) 25 μl / medium bottle) and the case of addition of tea extract (100 mg / medium bottle).

As a result, although the bitterness in the case of adding the tea extract was weaker than that in the case of adding the bitterness component of beer, a unique flavor was confirmed by the paneler in the case of adding the tea flower extract.
Specifically, when the tea flower extract is added, the bitter taste remaining in the mouth is felt, and further, the acidity felt when the tea flower extract is not added becomes mild, the mouth feel is improved, and the beer flavor is not harmed. Comment was obtained.

Claims (4)

  A beer-like beverage comprising a tea flower and / or tea flower extract.   The beer-like beverage according to claim 1, wherein the content of the tea flower and / or tea flower extract is 1-1000 mg per liter of beer-like beverage on the basis of its dry weight.   A method for producing a beer-like beverage, comprising a step of adding tea flowers and / or tea flower extract during a beverage production process.   The method according to claim 3, wherein the content of tea flower and / or tea flower extract is 1-1000 mg per liter of beer-like beverage, based on its dry weight.

Images