A PROCESS FOR PRODUCING A TEA PRODUCT
The present invention relates to a process of producing a tea product. More particularly the present invention relates to a process of producing a cold-water infusible leaf tea product with rich red colour. Accordingly, the present invention provides a process for producing a tea product comprising the steps of contacting tea leaves with 0.1 to 10% by weight of a base for about 30 minutes to 6 hours.
1 . A process for producing a tea product comprising the steps of contacting tea leaves with 0.1 to 10% by weight of a base for about 30 minutes to 6 hours.
2 . A process as claimed in claim 1 wherein the tea leaves are fresh tea leaves with moisture content of more than 65% by weight.
3 . A process as claimed in claim 1 wherein the tea leaves are macerated tea leaves.
4 . A process as claimed in claim 3 wherein the macerated tea leaves are produced by comminuting fresh tea leaves with moisture content of more than 65% by weight.
5 . A process as claimed in claim 1 wherein the tea leaves are finished leaf tea products with moisture content of less than 5% by weight.
6 . A process as claimed in claim 1 wherein the tea leaves are contacted with 0.1 to 10% by weight of a base directly before or during fermentation.
7 . A process as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein the pKb value of the base is greater than 4.68.
8 . A process as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein the tea leaves are further contacted with a polysaccharide degrading enzyme (e.g. pectinase) before, after or in combination with the base.
9 . A process for producing a tea product comprising the steps of;
a) providing fresh tea leaves with moisture content of at least 65% by weight;
b) optionally, subjecting the incubated leaf to a step of comminution;
c) adding 1 to 10% by weight of a base to the comminuted tea leaves;
d) fermenting the comminuted tea leaves for about 30 minutes to 6 hours; and
e) drying the fermented tea leaves to obtain the tea product.
10 . A process as claimed in claim 9 wherein there is an additional step of withering of fresh tea leaves.
11 . A process as claimed in claim 9 or claim 10 wherein the process comprises an additional step before step d) of contacting the tea leaves with a polysaccharide degrading enzyme (e.g. pectinase) before, after or in combination with the base.
12 . A process for producing a tea product comprising the steps of;
a) providing a finished tea product with moisture content of less than 5%;
b) adding 1 to 10% by weight of a base to obtain a mix;
c) incubating the mix for about 30 minutes to 6 hours.
13 . A process as claimed in claim 12 , wherein the process comprises an additional step before step c) of contacting the tea leaves with a polysaccharide degrading enzyme (e.g. pectinase) before, after or in combination with the base.
14 . A process as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein the base is selected from sodium carbonate, sodium bicarbonate, potassium carbonate, potassium bicarbonate and mixtures thereof.