Claims:Claims
We claim
1. A process for the preparation of tea beverage concentrate, the process comprising steps of:
a. addition of black tea leaves to hot water;
b. extraction of black tea under vacuum conditions;
c. addition of sugar to tea extract;
d. addition of milk in liquid form to the tea extract containing sugar;
e. concentration of mixture comprising of tea extract containing sugar and milk at below 50°C temperature under vacuum conditions.

2. The process for the preparation of tea beverage concentrate as claimed in claim 1, wherein the process for extraction of black tea comprises of filtration of tea extract.

3. The process for the preparation of tea beverage concentrate as claimed in claim 1, wherein the percentage of sugar in the tea beverage concentrate is in the range of 30 % to 40%.

4. The process for the preparation of tea concentrate as claimed in claim 1, wherein the percentage of liquid milk in the tea beverage concentrate varies from 30 % to 40 %.

5. The process for the preparation of tea concentrate as claimed in claim 1, wherein the tea beverage concentrate has total solids in the range of 55 % to 60%.

6. The process for the preparation of tea beverage concentrate as claimed in claim 1, wherein the temperature of hot water for extraction of tea ranges from 45°C to 50°C.

7. A process for the preparation of flavoured tea beverage concentrate, the process comprising steps of:
a. addition of black tea leaves to hot water;
b. extraction of black tea under vacuum conditions;
c. addition of sugar to tea extract;
d. addition of milk in liquid form to the tea extract containing sugar;
e. concentration of mixture comprising of tea extract containing sugar and milk at below 50°C temperature under vacuum conditions.
f. addition of flavouring substances to the tea beverage concentrate;

8. The process for the preparation of flavoured tea beverage concentrate as claimed in claim 7, wherein the flavour comprises of natural, nature identical or artificial flavour such as mint, lemon, tulsi and the like.

Dated this 21st day of April 2018

Anumula Naveen Kumar
Regd. Indian Patent Agent (IN/PA 2183)
, Description:FORM 2
PATENTS ACT, 1970
(39 of 1970)
&
The Patents Rules, 2003
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION
(See section 10 and rule 13)

1. TITLE OF THE INVENTION
A TEA BEVERAGE CONCENTRATE AND A PROCESS OF MANUFACTURING THEREOF

2. APPLICANT(S)
(a) NAME: Raghunath A
(b) NATIONALITY: INDIAN
(c) ADDRESS: Plot No 93, 5th Cross, Balamrai Society,
Near Water Tank, Mahindra Hills, Secunderabad,
Nehrunagar, Hyderabad-500026

3. PREAMBLE TO THE DESCRIPTION
COMPLETE
The following specification particularly describes the invention and the manner in which it is to be performed.
4. DESCRIPTION
Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a tea beverage concentrate and process for manufacturing a tea beverage concentrate. Specifically, the present invention relates to a natural liquid milk based tea beverage concentrate which is ready to consume by just addition of hot water.

Background of the Invention
Tea is an aromatic beverage commonly prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured leaves of the Camellia sinensis. Tea is the mostly used daily beverage throughout the world, with estimated daily consumption of more than 6 billion cups. It is valued due to potential health benefits confirmed with preclinical and epidemiological studies, its aroma content, and cultural association. Brewed tea has flavor and taste characteristics. The flavor or odor characteristics, perceived by the olfactory senses, are largely due to volatile aromatic components; while so-called taste characteristics of body, tannins, sweetness are largely due to non-volatiles.
An increasingly popular way of providing beverages is in a concentrated form. This form has the advantages of reducing the storage space requirements considerably and permitting a manufacturer or consumer to select his or her own preferred concentration by adding the concentrate to a desired volume of water.
Because of the nature of the concentrates, not all desired beverage ingredients are suitable for use in concentrates. One of these is tea. A desirable concentration of tea extracts will precipitate under such conditions, so that there will be an unsightly layer of precipitate in the bottom of the concentrate container, and the final beverage will be undesirably cloudy and not suitable for human consumption. Many proposals have been made for preparing tea beverage concentrates, but with the disadvantages of loss of flavor components, and distortion of tea, most of them are unsuccessful in meeting the tastes of public at large.
US2476072 discloses the preparation of a concentrated tea extract which can be prepared and stored, and employed by simple dilution to provide a beverage with the flavor and taste of a fresh brew. However, in the tea extract disclosed, milk is not present as an ingredient in the tea extract. It’s a big challenge to maintain the natural milk in natural form without coagulation /curdling during the entire process of manufacturing of tea concentrate.
WO2015090855 discloses a liquid concentrate tea product. The liquid concentrate tea product comprising: a) 1 - 10 % by weight of soluble tea solids, b) 10 - 25 % by weight of honey, c) 35 - 55 % by weight of a solubilizer, d) 1 - 6 % by weight of acidulant, e) 0.05 - 5% by weight of glycyrrhizic acid or a salt thereof; and f) 5 - 50% by weight of water. However, the liquid concentrate tea product includes sorbic acid, sodium benzoate, benzoic acid and mixtures as artificial preservatives. Also, the disclosed liquid concentrate tea product doesn’t contain natural milk as an ingredient during its preparation process.
US2011123700 discloses an instant liquid tea concentrate. The method of preparation includes combining tea, glycerin and water to form a tea mixture; macerating the tea mixture in a closed tank to form a tea bulk; boiling the tea bulk to form a boiled tea bulk; removing coarse particles from the boiled tea bulk to form a clarified liquid; spray drying the clarified liquid to form a liquid tea concentrate. However, the instant liquid tea concentrate includes glycerin and spray drying the clarified liquid to form a liquid tea concentrate. Also, the instant liquid tea concentrate doesn’t disclose the presence of liquid milk as an essential ingredient.
340/CAL/2002 discloses a process for preparation of cold water soluble instant tea. The process includes extracting black tea leaves with hot soft water to provide a tea liquor containing tea solids and in soluble cream, separating the insoluble cream, concentrating and obtaining a concentrate containing about 5-15% tea solids, adding an alkali and calcium chloride, oxidizing the slurry, separating the insoluble solids therein, and collecting the supernatant, polishing and preparing cold-water soluble instant tea. The present invention is different from the prior-art patent application in that the present invention doesn’t include adding an alkali and calcium chloride, oxidizing the slurry, separating the insoluble solids.
1064/CHE/2013 discloses liquid milk tea concentrate. The process includes obtaining tea extract, mixing with milk to obtain milk-tea mixture, homogenization of milk-tea mixture, thermal processing of the mixture to obtain the concentrate wherein the tea is extracted at 95°C in an extractor with tea to water ratio of 1:5 to 1:8.The extraction of tea is performed at much higher temperature, wherein the extract characteristics are altered and optimum flavour is lost, additionally the milk extract is not natural milk and used as powder. This increases cost of the production and also lacks use of natural milk to retain natural tea flavour/aroma and taste.
US 4220673 discloses a process for the preparation of instant tea wherein passing steam at reduced pressures through a columnar bed of ground tea leaves to pre-wet and pre-swell an upper portion of said leaves; and then passing water and wet steam at reduced pressures and low temperatures through said bed to desorb and extract from said tea leaves an aqueous tea extract while maintaining a weight ratio of said extract to dry tea leaves.
US 4552769 discloses a process for preparing a powdered tea extract characterized in that black tea leaves are extracted with hot water to give a first extract which is separated from the tea leaves, concentrated to a solids content of from 5% to 12.5%, and then cooled to a temperature from 5° C. to 15° C. to form an insoluble cream which is separated from the concentrated first extract and then extracted with water at a temperature of from 40° C. to 70° C. to give a second extract which is separated from the remaining insoluble cream, after which the first and second extracts are mixed and dried.
US 20080160135 discloses a shelf stable and ready-to-drink tea beverages. The tea beverages have excellent color and flavor characteristics and are prepared from a tea extract that has been made with both cold brew and standard tea leaf. The tea beverages maintain excellent characteristics in the absence of preservatives and caramel.
US 20150050389 discloses a sweet tea brewing product and system for brewing sweet tea is disclosed including making a concentrated sweet tea solution before mixing with water which comprises at least one water permeable sieve wherein tea particles and sugar granules are contained. The tea particles and sugar granules are brewed and dissolved during steeping in hot water to produce a hot concentrated sweet tea solution. The concentrated tea solution is then mixed with a proportioned amount of water to make consistent sweet tea. An alternative embodiment may be employed whereby coffee is substituted for tea to make a sweetened coffee solution that may be brewed hot or over ice.
None of the available tea beverage concentrates does not contain ready to drink liquid tea concentrate with natural liquid milk as an ingredient in the tea concentrate for retaining natural, authentic taste of the tea. The available tea beverage concentrates contain skim milk powder or dairy whitener as source of milk. However, addition of skim milk powder or dairy whitener doesn’t satisfy the palate of the regular tea consumer. Use of milk powder and dairy whitener will not give the original taste of tea. Tea which is prepared from liquid milk has superior taste when compared to other forms of milk.
Another drawback with the prior-art literature is the extraction of tea at higher temperatures. Extraction of tea at higher temperatures results in charring of the material.
Given the desire for authentic and natural materials, there is an unfilled gap in the market. It has now been found that it is possible to make an authentic tea beverage concentrate containing liquid milk. There is therefore provided a tea beverage concentrate which is completely made from natural ingredients without any artificial colors/ flavors/ preservatives and with liquid milk.
Thus, there is a need to develop a method for producing tea beverage concentrate which has superior taste and which is prepared from all natural ingredients.
OBJECT OF THE INVENTION
The following presents a simplified summary of the disclosure in order to provide a basic understanding to the reader. This summary is not an extensive overview of the disclosure and it does not identify key/critical elements of the invention or delineate the scope of the invention. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts disclosed herein in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.
It is an object of the invention to provide a tea beverage concentrate which is made completely from natural ingredients.
It is an object of the invention to provide a tea beverage concentrate wherein the tea extract is prepared under vacuum conditions.
It is an object of the invention to provide a tea beverage concentrate which contains liquid milk as an ingredient and which has taste similar to that of freshly brewed tea containing sugar and milk.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a tea beverage concentrate with increased shelf-life period.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a process for the preparation of tea beverage concentrate.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a process for preparing a tea beverage concentrate produced from the natural ingredients including liquid milk. The present invention relates to a tea beverage concentrate produced from the natural ingredients containing liquid milk as an ingredient.
The process for the preparation of tea beverage concentrate includes a) extraction of black tea leaves with hot water under vacuum conditions, b) addition of sugar to tea extract, c) addition of milk to the tea extract containing sugar, d) concentration of tea extract below at 50°C temperature under vacuum conditions. By extracting tea under vacuum conditions, there is no need to go for high temperature. Extraction of tea at high temperatures results in charring of the material and loss of flavor and aroma.
The percentage of sugar in the tea beverage concentrate is in the range of 30 % to 40 %. Addition of sugar makes the tea beverage concentrate sweet in taste. Also, sugar acts as a natural preservative and aids in extension of shelf life of the tea beverage concentrate. However, if the sugar is added in excess quantities, it results in caramelization and makes the tea beverage concentrate not appealing to the consumer.
The percentage of milk in the tea beverage concentrate is in the range of 30 % to 40 %. Addition of liquid milk brings the natural aroma to the tea beverage concentrate. The authentic taste of the tea beverage is perceived by the consumer by the inclusion of liquid milk in the tea beverage concentrate.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
It is to be understood that the present disclosure is not limited in its application to the details of composition set forth in the following description. The present disclosure is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced or of being carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology used herein is for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting.
The use of “including”, “comprising” or “having” and variations thereof herein is meant to encompass the items listed thereafter and equivalents thereof as well as additional items. The terms “a” and “an” herein do not denote a limitation of quantity, but rather denote the presence of at least one of the referenced item. Further, the use of terms “first”, “second”, and the like, herein do not denote any order, quantity, or importance, but rather are used to distinguish one element from another.
Reference throughout this specification to “one embodiment,” or similar language means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present invention. Thus, appearances of the phrases “one embodiment,” and similar language throughout this specification may, but do not necessarily, all refer to the same embodiment, different embodiments, or component parts of the same or different illustrated invention.
Each statement of an embodiment is to be considered independent of any other statement of an embodiment despite any use of similar or identical language characterizing each embodiment.
The wording “one embodiment,” or the like, does not appear at the beginning of every sentence in the specification, is merely a convenience for the reader’s clarity. However, it is the intention of this application to incorporate by reference the phrasing “an embodiment,” and the like, at the beginning of every sentence herein where logically possible and appropriate.
The term “tea” according to the present invention means a leaf material obtained from the tea plants such as Camellia sinensis var. sinensis or Camellia sinensis var. assamica.
The term "tea beverage" refers to a drinkable beverage prepared from the tea concentrates of the present invention by dilution with water.
According to one embodiment of the invention, a process for the preparation of tea beverage concentrate is disclosed. The process includes a) extraction of black tea leaves with hot water under vacuum conditions, b) addition of sugar to tea extract, d) addition of milk to the tea extract containing sugar, e) concentration of tea extract below 50 °C under vacuum conditions. Fine quality black tea leaves are taken in a vessel and hot water is added to the black tea leaves. The temperature of the hot water is below 50 °C and is in direct contact with black tea leaves for a period of 15 to 25 minutes under vacuum conditions. Vacuum can be increased or decreased by using a vacuum pump. By using vacuum during extraction, there is no loss of aroma.
Thereafter, the tea is extracted by using a filter. The natural aroma of the tea is maintained in the tea extract also.
According to one embodiment of the invention, sugar is added to the tea extract obtained. Sugar added is in the form of fine crystals at a temperature of 55°C to 60°C. However, sugar can also be added in the form of a liquid or in the form of sugar concentrate. The percentage of sugar added to the tea extract ranges from 30 grams to 40 grams per 100 grams of the tea extract. The mixture of tea extract and sugar is continuously mixed in the vessel by using an agitator to obtain a uniform composition.
In one embodiment of the invention liquid milk is added to the mixture containing tea extract and sugar. Liquid milk is heated to a temperature of about 55°C to 60°Cand is then added to the mixture containing tea extract and sugar under vacuum conditions. Liquid milk is added slowly and care is taken to prevent the coagulation of milk. The mixture containing tea extract, sugar and milk is maintained at 70°C for about 30 to 40 minutes. Water content from the mixture is evaporated and the resultant product is tea beverage concentrate.
In one embodiment of the invention, liquid milk concentrate is added instead of liquid milk. Toned milk in liquid form containing about 8.5 % solid-not-fat (SNF) is taken in a vessel and condensed to about 15 % solid-not-fat (SNF) to 25 % solid-not-fat (SNF).
In one embodiment of the invention a process for the preparation of flavoured tea beverage concentrate is disclosed. The process includes steps of: addition of black tea leaves to hot water; extraction of black tea under vacuum conditions; addition of sugar to tea extract; addition of milk in liquid form to the tea extract containing sugar; concentration of mixture comprising of tea extract containing sugar and milk at below 50°C temperature under vacuum conditions; addition of flavouring substances to the tea beverage concentrate.
The tea beverage concentrate may additionally be blended with flavours such as natural, nature identical or artificial flavour such as mint, lemon, tulsi and the like.
The final step in the process is judged based on the total solids, taste and colour. Generally, the percentage of total solids in the final product ranges from 55% to 60%.
Uniform consistency of the end product is utmost important step. In order to attain uniform consistency, the following steps are maintained:
a) Addition of ingredients: at particular time and temperatures (50°C to 70 °C). All the ingredients like sugar and liquid milk are added at temperatures in the range of 50°C to 70°C;
b) Filtration: to get the clear uniform liquid by removing the unwanted particles like dust, scum, foreign particles etc;
c) Concentration under vacuum with low temperature: to avoid charring of the material;
d) Mixing: under controlled rpm to get the uniformity.
The tea beverage concentrate is filled into containers of different sizes. Generally, the containers are glass bottles or PET bottles (multi-serve). In some cases the tea beverage concentrate is filled in sachets for individual use (single-serve). The tea beverage concentrate is also filled into bulk containers for use into tea vending machines. The filled containers are stored under refrigeration conditions or generally below 10°C temperature. The sealed tea beverage concentrate when stored at room temperature has a shelf life of about 90 days.
The consumer can make a cup of tea by just adding 1 part of tea beverage concentrate to 2 to 3 parts of hot water depending on the consumer’s taste and preference. If the tea beverage concentrate is stored in containers like PET bottles/ large containers, the consumer can reuse the remaining tea beverage concentrate, provided that the PET bottle/ large container is closed properly after usage.
It is to be understood that changes and variations may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the following claims.