Tea, botanically called as a Camellia sinensis, an aromatic beverage and a common caffeine drink extensively cultivated and consumed in India as well as the world. It is the national drink of India and eulogized as ‘golden leaf’, ‘queen of beverage crop’ or ‘the oldest beverage crop’. In India, the crop is cultivated on a large scale in Darjeeling, Assam and Nilgiris.
The Darjeeling tea has unique Muscat flavour, Assam tea is known for cup character whereas Nilgiris have a characteristic taste. People throughout the world like to drink tea due to its multi health benefits. The drink is much valued for its aroma, taste and stimulation. The tea constituents are “thein or caffeine” a stimulant and “theol” responsible for aroma. The tea chemical composition is much complex, it contains chemicals like ‘tannins’ or ‘polyphenols’, which are colourless and bitter substance that imparts astringency in the drink, catechins, chlorophyll, amino acids, proteins, carbohydrates, volatile compounds, fluoride, minerals as well as other undefined compounds. Most of the health promoting effects of tea are attributed to its polyphenolic compounds and their antioxidant property.
The tea beverage often consists varying levels of caffeine and some consumers are sensitive to caffeine thus decaffeinate tea is also produced. The traditional practice of tea consumption is by addition of milk and sugar, which is believed to add extra taste to the drink. Teas are generally classified as green tea: non fermented type, oolong tea: semi fermented type and black tea: fully fermented type, based on the manufacturing process. Green tea is produced by using young tea leaves and brew up a light green or yellow colour, they tend to have milder taste and lighter body.
It is a richest source of catechin: epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) that is most potent and much of the anticarcinogenic effect of tea is credited to it. Catechins are a group of natural antioxidants, having various beneficial health benefits. In traditional Indian and Chinese medicine, green tea is used to control bleeding, heal wounds, aid digestion, improve mental and heart health, regulate body temperature, liver disorders, diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease and promotes weight loss.
Oolong tea is processed and fermented to a lesser degree than black tea, thus it contains a higher concentration of theaflavins and lower concentration of thearubigins than black tea. The theaflavins and thearubigins imparts red-amber colour of oolong and black tea and also responsible for astringency. Oolong tea combines the qualities of both green tea and black tea, giving a purported health benefits. Black teas are relatively high in caffeine, they brew up dark coppery colour and has stronger and more robust flavour than other types of tea.
A minimally processed delicate tea is a white tea, has a light body and mild flavour with crisp clean finish. Puer tea is partially fermented aged tea similar to black tea in character. It has full body with rich earthy and deeply satisfying taste. A new kind of tea is a purple tea produced from a rare purpled leaved tea plant growing wild in Assam, India. They have a light body, mellow flavour, extremely low in caffein and high in antioxidants and anthocyanins. A popular green tea in Japan is Matcha, produced from a powdered green tea, matcha is smooth, rich flavour and just a hint of bitterness.
Another type of tea called as ‘kombucha’, is a fermented black or green tea associated symbiotically with yeast culture and acetic acid bacteria which is called as tea fungus. This fermented tea with tea fungus is locally called as “kombucha tea” or the “fermented tea” having claimed health benefits. It is a potential source of probiotics, controls blood sugar level, reduces risk of heart disease and so on.
The herbal teas are not actually derived from the tea leaves or the Camellia sinensis plant but a blend of different herbs and spices. They often have medicinal properties. The sparkling tea is gaining much traction as the consumers are embracing carbonated beverage with more natural ingredients and less sugar than the traditional soda. The RTD (ready to drink), tea beverage contains no calories or sweeteners or colours or flavors or caffeine but has tea essence.
Ultimately there are various types of tea as there are many producers. The tea as a beverage have multi benefits and thus extensively consumed.
(Ranjeetha is a technical assistant horticulture, Taluk Panchayat, Chintamani. Veeresh has M.Sc. in Agricultural Economics, UAS, Raichur. Nagendraprasad has M.Sc. Ag. horticulture (Floriculture and Landscape Architecture), Rajmata Vijayaraje Scindia Krishi Vishwa Vidyalaya. Pruthvi B Basavaraj has M.Sc. (Horticulture) in Vegetable Science, UHS, Bagalkot. They can be reached at Ranjeetha.R.Gowda@gmail.com)
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