JP4253236B2 - Production method of tea extract - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for producing a tea extract having a natural aroma and a good taste derived from tea leaves, and a tea-based beverage using the same.

Tea-based beverages such as green tea, oolong tea, and black tea are usually produced by blending extracts extracted from the corresponding tea leaves with warm water, and various extraction conditions have been studied for the purpose of adjusting bitterness, taste, and the like. As for tea extraction technology using ethanol, a method (Patent Document 1) using an aqueous ethanol solution of 50% by weight or more for the purpose of extracting a water-soluble extract from a wide range of animals and plants is known. Also, ethanol is added to tea extract for the purpose of adding a tea-based extract to obtain a concentrated liquid for tea-based alcoholic beverages that maintains quality (Patent Document 2) and improving the flavor of tea tea. A technique (Patent Document 3) is known.
Japanese Patent No. 3342235 JP 2002-209519 A JP 2000-41639 A

The flavor of tea consists of a body feeling, a fresh feeling, a roasted incense, a fermented feeling, and the like, and a tea-like flavor can be obtained by balancing these. However, the hot water extraction provides a roasted aroma and a feeling of fermentation, but it is difficult to obtain a fresh feeling. On the other hand, a high-concentration aqueous ethanol extraction as in Patent Document 1 provides a fresh feeling, but a roasted aroma and a feeling of fermentation are obtained. In any case, a tea extract with a good flavor feeling peculiar to tea having a well-balanced body feeling, fresh feeling, roasted incense, fermentation feeling and the like could not be obtained. Moreover, the said patent documents 2 and 3 are the techniques which add ethanol, and are not applicable to a tea-type drink.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a method for producing a tea extract that has a well-balanced aroma and flavor and can be blended into a tea-based beverage.

Therefore, the present inventor examined the extraction means from tea leaves on the basis of tea-like aroma and flavor. Not only the concentration of the ethanol aqueous solution but also the amount of extraction solvent and the extraction temperature within a specific range, the smell like tea It has been found that a tea extract having a fragrance, a blue odor, and a strong flavor can be obtained, and by using this, a tea-based beverage having a body feeling with a rich natural flavor can be produced.
That is, the present invention is a method for producing a tea extract from tea leaves belonging to Camellia sinensis, wherein 0.5 to 5% by weight ethanol aqueous solution is used as an extraction solvent, and 0.5% of tea leaves are added to the extraction solvent. The present invention provides a method for producing a tea extract which is extracted at an extraction temperature of 0 to 77 ° C. using ˜20% by weight.
Moreover, this invention provides the tea-type drink formed by mix | blending the tea extract obtained by the said method.

  According to the present invention, a tea extract having a natural aroma derived from tea leaves, having no blue odor, and a good flavor is efficiently extracted, and if used, it has a natural aroma and a body feeling. Tea-based beverages can be manufactured.

  As tea leaves used in the present invention, green teas such as Sencha, Gyokuro, Tencha, etc., made from tea leaves belonging to Camellia sinensis, iron kannon, color species, golden katsura, martial arts, which are collectively called Oolong tea Semi-fermented teas such as Iwacha, fermented teas such as Assam, Kemon, Darjeeling, and Ceylon, which are collectively called black tea, and the like.

  As the extraction solvent, an aqueous ethanol solution is used, and the ethanol concentration is 0.5 to 5% by weight, preferably 1.5 to 5% by weight, and more preferably 2 to 4% by weight. When the ethanol concentration is less than 0.5% by weight, the aroma of the obtained tea extract is not sufficient, and when it exceeds 5% by weight, an aroma that is bluish, fresh, or not tea-like is extracted.

  The amount of tea leaves is 0.5 to 20% by weight, preferably 1 to 10% by weight, more preferably 1.5 to 6% by weight, based on the extraction solvent. When the amount of tea leaves is less than 0.5% by weight, the aroma of the obtained tea extract is not sufficient, and when it exceeds 20% by weight, the taste components of tea are not sufficiently extracted and the balance with the aroma is not good.

  The extraction temperature is 0 to 77 ° C, preferably 0 to 75 ° C, more preferably 5 to 70 ° C. If the extraction temperature is less than 0 ° C, the aroma of the obtained tea extract is not sufficient, and if it exceeds 77 ° C, the effect of adding ethanol decreases.

  The method for extracting tea can be performed by a conventional method such as stirring extraction. Moreover, you may add organic acids or organic acid salts, such as sodium ascorbate, to an extraction solvent previously at the time of extraction. Moreover, you may use together the method extracted in non-oxidative atmosphere which ventilates inert gas, such as boiling deaeration and nitrogen gas, and removes dissolved oxygen.

  The obtained extract can be subjected to treatment such as concentration under reduced pressure (thin film concentration, flash concentration), RO membrane concentration, centrifugation, filtration, and the like.

  In the case of obtaining a tea-based beverage, the obtained extract is diluted to 3 to 70%, and if necessary, in accordance with the components derived from tea, antioxidants, fragrances, various esters, organic acids, organic acids Salts, inorganic acids, inorganic acid salts, inorganic salts, pigments, emulsifiers, preservatives, seasonings, sweeteners, acidulants, fruit juice extracts, vegetable extracts, nectar extracts, pH adjusters, quality stabilizers, etc. Additives may be added alone or in combination.

  For example, sweeteners include sugar, glucose, fructose, isomerized liquid sugar, glycyrrhizin, stevia, aspartame, fructooligosaccharide, galactooligosaccharide, and other oligosaccharides such as cyclodextrin and branched α-, β-, and γ-cyclodextrin. Can be used. Artificial sweeteners such as sucralose and acesulfame potassium can also be used.

Examples of acidulants include fruit juices extracted from natural ingredients, citric acid, tartaric acid, malic acid, lactic acid, fumaric acid, and phosphoric acid.
Inorganic acids and inorganic acid salts include phosphoric acid, disodium phosphate, sodium metaphosphate, and sodium polyphosphate. Organic acids and organic acid salts include citric acid, succinic acid, itaconic acid, malic acid, and sodium citrate. Etc.

  The tea-based beverage is preferably a container-packed beverage, and the container used for container-packing the container-packed tea-based beverage is a molded container (so-called PET bottle) containing polyethylene terephthalate as a main component in the same manner as a general beverage, It can be provided in a normal form such as a metal can, a metal container or a paper container combined with a plastic film, or a bottle. The term “packaged beverage” as used herein means a beverage that can be drunk without dilution.

  Moreover, the container-packed tea-based beverage of the present invention is produced under the sterilization conditions defined in the Food Sanitation Law if it can be heat sterilized after filling into a container like a metal can. For PET bottles and paper containers that cannot be sterilized by retort, sterilize under the same conditions as above, for example, sterilize at high temperature and short time with a plate heat exchanger, etc. The method is adopted. Moreover, you may mix | blend another component with the filled container under aseptic conditions. Further, after sterilization by heating after acidification, the pH can be returned to neutrality by sterilization, or after sterilization by heating after neutralization, the pH can be returned to acidity under aseptic conditions.

(1) Evaluation of aroma The prepared sample was evaluated by a sensory evaluation method by five flavorists who are specialized panels. The evaluation was scored according to the following criteria.

(Scent like green tea)
-: Aroma is not felt △: Aroma is slightly weak 〇: Aroma is slightly strong ◎: Aroma is strong

(Raw smell or blue smell)
-: The fragrance is not felt △: The fragrance is slightly weak ×: The fragrance is slightly strong XX: The fragrance is strong

(Comprehensive evaluation)
×: The tea flavor is very bad △: The tea flavor balance is bad 〇: The tea flavor balance is good ◎: The tea flavor balance is very good

Example 1
200 g of green tea was extracted with an extraction solvent at 70 ° C. and 10 L for 5 minutes, and lightly squeezed to obtain juice. The product 1 of the present invention was obtained using 2% by weight ethanol water as an extraction solvent.

Example 2
1 kg of black tea was extracted with a 20 L extraction solvent at 65 ° C. for 10 minutes, and lightly pressed to obtain a juice. The product 2 of the present invention was obtained using 5% by weight ethanol water as an extraction solvent.

Example 3
3 g of oolong tea was extracted with 70 mL of 200 mL of extraction solvent for 3 minutes and squeezed lightly to obtain a juice. The product 3 of the present invention was obtained using 4% by weight ethanol water as an extraction solvent.

Comparative Example 1
200 g of green tea was extracted at 70 ° C. with 10 L of extraction solvent for 5 minutes and lightly squeezed to obtain juice. Comparative product 1 was obtained using 0.2 wt% ethanol water as the extraction solvent.

Comparative Example 2
200 g of green tea was extracted at 70 ° C. with 10 L of extraction solvent for 5 minutes and lightly squeezed to obtain juice. Comparative product 2 was obtained using 10 wt% ethanol water as the extraction solvent.

Comparative Example 3
20 g of green tea was extracted with an extraction solvent at 70 ° C. and 10 L for 5 minutes, and lightly pressed to obtain juice. Comparative product 3 was obtained using 2 wt% ethanol water as the extraction solvent.

Comparative Example 4
200 g of green tea was extracted at 90 ° C. with 10 L of extraction solvent for 5 minutes and lightly squeezed to obtain juice. Comparative product 4 was obtained using 2% by weight ethanol water as the extraction solvent.

  Table 1 shows the taste evaluation results for the tea extracts obtained in the above Examples and Comparative Examples.

  Moreover, the extract of this invention products 1-3 was able to be made into a container-packed tea type | system | group drink by sterilizing after container-packing as it is.

Claims (4)

From green tea leaves belonging to Camellia sinensis A method of manufacturing a green tea extract, with 0.5 to 5 wt% aqueous ethanol solution as an extraction solvent, 1.5 to 6 weight green tea leaves against the extraction solvent % used method for producing a green tea extract is extracted with extraction temperature 5 to 77 ° C.. Tea beverage made by blending the green tea extract obtained by the process of claim 1. Claim 1 obtained by the method described green tea extracts of 3 to 70% by weight compounded those according to claim 2, wherein the tea-based beverage.   The tea-based beverage according to claim 2 or 3, which is a packaged tea-based beverage.