Comparison of the main compounds in Fuding white tea infusions from various tea types

Junxian Pan; Yulan Jiang; Yangjun Lv; Man Li; Shikang Zhang; Jun Liu; Yuejin Zhu; Haihua Zhang

doi:10.1007/s10068-018-0384-3

Comparison of the main compounds in Fuding white tea infusions from various tea types

Food Sci Biotechnol. 2018 May 23;27(5):1311-1318. doi: 10.1007/s10068-018-0384-3. eCollection 2018 Oct.

Authors

Junxian Pan^{1

2}, Yulan Jiang^{1

2}, Yangjun Lv^{1

2}, Man Li³, Shikang Zhang^{1

2}, Jun Liu^{1

2}, Yuejin Zhu^{1

2}, Haihua Zhang^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Hangzhou Tea Research Institute, CHINA COOP, Hangzhou, 310016 China.
² Zhejiang Key Laboratory of Transboundary Applied Technology for Tea Resources, Hangzhou, 310016 China.
³ 3School of Food Science and Engineering, Qingdao Agricultural University, Qingdao, 266109 China.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to compare the main components, and particularly catechins, caffeine, theanine, free amino acids, and water extracts, in Bai Hao Yin Zhen, Bai Mu Dan, and Shou Mei Fuding white tea infusions brewed at different temperatures, and their contributions to taste were estimated by dose-over-threshold value. Infusion temperature had a distinct effect on the main components extracted, and 100 °C was found to be optimal for extracting catechins and caffeine. However, the effect of temperature on theanine, free amino acids, and water extracts varied with tea type. Bai Mu Dan and Shou Mei yielded a higher content of the major compounds than did Bai Hao Yin Zhen. Thus, infusion temperature had a large effect on extracting the main compounds, and the differences in content between the three white teas presumably reflected differences in the harvest time, processing method or leaf shape.

Keywords: Caffeine; Catechin; Free amino acid; Theanine; Water extract; White tea.