Background of the Invention: -

Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared from the cured leaves of Camellia sinensis plant by combining it with hot or boiling water. The plant itself is known as tea plant. Its leaves are processed and cured using various methods.

Tea contains catechins which are a type of antioxidants, theanine and caffeine. It also contains small amounts of theobromine and theophylline. Tea consumption is believed to help in prevention of cancer and cardiovascular diseases. Tea plays an important role in improving beneficial intestinal microflora, as well as providing immunity against intestinal disorders and in protecting cell membranes from oxidative damage. Tea also prevents dental caries due to the presence of fluorine. The role of tea is well established in normalizing blood pressure, lipid depressing activity, prevention of coronary heart diseases and diabetes by reducing the blood-glucose activity. Tea also possesses germicidal and germistatic activities against various gram-positive and gram negative human pathogenic bacteria.

Sunset Yellow 110 is a synthetic yellow azo dye, manufactured from aromatic hydrocarbons from petroleum. When added to foods, it is denoted by E Number El 10. It is used in fermented foods, orange sodasmarzipan, Swiss rolls, apricot jam, citrus marmalade, lemon curd, sweets, beverage mix and packet soups, margarine, custard powders, packaged lemon gelatin desserts, energy drinks such as Lucozade, breadcrumbs, snack chips such as Doritos, packaged instant noodles, cheese sauce mixes and powdered marinades, bottled yellow and green food colouring, ice creams, pharmaceutical pills and prescription medicines, over-the-counter medicines (especially children's medicines) cake decorations and icings, squashes, and other products with artificial yellow, orange or red colours.

US Patent 6235323 describes a tea bag for ice tea beverages. The tea bag contains a tea mixture made up of about 30% to about 95% by weight of tea leaves, and about 5% to about 70% by weight of dried soluble tea solids. The tea bag may be immersed in cold water to provide a tea beverage of acceptable color and flavor in less than about 10 minutes.

US Patent 5384141 provides a tea process in which tea extract is separated into a lighter colored and a darker colored phase by changing the natural self-separating capacity of the tea extract by concentrating the extract to 6-45 wt %, preferably 12-30 wt % solids, cooling the concentrate below 5° C. and isolating the separated phases. The lighter colored phase is used in preparing clear cold-water soluble tea, reduced caffeine tea, isotonic tea. The darker colored phase may be used to prepare hot-water soluble instant tea, coloring agent, antioxidant or tea flavoring agent. US Patent 6413570 describes a tea concentrate comprising 5 to 30% tea solids, combined with selected carbohydrates in a ratio of 1.5 parts or more of carbohydrate to 1 part of tea solids. The brewed tea concentrate has certain levels of caffeine, flavanoids and gallic acid and when diluted to a final tea beverage at a ratio of about 100 parts water to 1 part tea has a total tea solids content of about 0.1% to 0.3% or higher. The beverage thus prepared has a Hunter haze of 50 or less.

US Patent 5863581 describes tea processing with zeolites wherein Tea products, particularly black leaf tea and tea powder, derived from green tea leaf are manufactured by a process involving addition of zeolite, preferably a synthetic sodium or potassium zeolite, for reaction with tea ingredients present or subsequently produced to generate red colour species. The tea products produce beverages having enhanced colour characteristics, in terms of colour properties and speed of colour generation, compared with conventional products.

US Patent 6780454 discloses cold brew tea wherein a cold water infusible tea leaf product is shown which brews in cold water to produce an iced tea beverage with the color and flavor of iced teas prepared by hot brewing methods. The product when brewed in water at about 15° C. for about 5 minutes at a water to tea ratio of 100 water to 1 tea has a cold water infusion Hunter L Value of about 25 to 45; a Hunter "a" value of about 24 to 34; a Hunter haze value of less than 40 and at least 0.15% soluble tea solids. US Patent 3812266 describes a process for green tea conversion using tannase and natural tea enzymes. In this process green tea, and specifically fresh green tea leaf, is comminuted, placed in aqueous suspension, treated with tannase, and thereafter converted
to black tea to provide black tea extracts of improved characteristics.

US Patent 6348224 describes a method for manufacturing black tea. The method involves macerating freshly plucked tea leaves, treating the leaves with ammonium bicarbonate, fermenting the treated leaves, firing the leaves to arrest fermentation and then drying them to yield black leaf tea.

US Patent H001628 discloses a process for the production of tea extracts comprising the steps of (a) extracting tea materials with water, (b) mixing the extract containing solution with protein, (c) acidifying the protein containing extract, and (d) separating the precipitates formed. The resultant tea extracts have reduced bitter and astringent flavors and low levels of polymerized or oxidized flavanols. The extracts are suitable for use as beverages or can be blended with fruit flavors, fruit juices and other flavors.

US Patent 7815960 provides green tea formulations and methods for the preparations wherein the method includes the mixing of fresh tea leaves in an amount of cold water, followed by pulverization of the leaves to release their intracellular material from the cells of the green tea leaves into the water and form an aqueous extract component. The remaining cellular material forms a leaf residue component which is removed from the mixture. Once the leaf residue is removed, the aqueous extract component is collected and may be dried or further processed to produce a final tea extract that has good natural color, robust natural flavor, and pleasant organoleptic properties, which also is high in polyphenol content, and may be used for various purposes such as the creation of a green tea beverage.

US Patent 7959965 describes instant green tea. According to one embodiment, there is provided an instant green tea which contains a dry green tea extract, a drying auxiliary agent, antioxidants, a tea powder and a specific amount of potassium, and a method of producing the instant green tea includes the step of extracting tea leaves with an extraction solvent which contains a drying auxiliary agent and a first antioxidant and has been adjusted to a pH value within the neutral range by using a first potassium preparation to give a liquid extract, the step of adding a second antioxidant and a tea powder to the liquid extract thus obtained, and the step of drying the liquid extract after the completion of the addition step as described above.

US Patent 5922380 describes a tea manufacturing process wherein tea leaves are extracted in warm or hot water, and the obtained extract is contacted with a cation exchange resin ionically bonded to potassium ion. The potassium ion is ionically bonded to the cation exchange resin in advance. Divalent ions in the tea beverage are replaced with the potassium ions from the cation exchange resin. The electrical conductivity of the extract is controlled in this whole process. The natural flavor and quality of the tea are thereby maintained more certainly, since metal ions that cause muddiness or precipitation are effectively removed.

US Patent 4552776 comprises a process for preparation of tea concentrate with enhanced natural color and the products prepared thereby. Tea is employed as a catalyst to reactions generating color formation. The resulting enhanced color of the tea concentrate and the tea products and beverages prepared therefrom is storage stable. The process comprises heating a solution of sugar and acid to effect caramelization reactions, followed by adding tea solids and heating to a higher temperature to catalyze Maillard reactions. US Patent 5780086 describes color and shelf stable beverage compositions containing tea extracts wherein the invention relates to color and shelf stable beverage compositions comprising:

a) from about 0.4% to about 1.5% tea extract wherein the level of caffeine is from about 0.85% to about 3.2%; and the tea solids content is from about 12% to about 60%;

b) from about 10 ppm to about 40 ppm colorant;

c) from about 300 ppm to about 1500 ppm erythorbic acid or ascorbic acid;

d) from about 0.5% to about 8.0% citric acid;

e) an effective amount of sweetener; and

f) water; and

wherein the tea extract contains unoxidized flavanols.

US Patent 4135001 gives a process for enhancing the color and flavor of tea which can be achieved by adding water-soluble aluminum salt(s) to the compositions or precursors during any stage of the manufacture up to the point of consumption, or even by coating or spraying the tea leaves prior to plucking and processing. Enhanced characteristics obtained as a result of this addition include increased redness and brightness and improved flavor. US Patent 6761918 describes a method of processing green tea leaves to produce black tea that can be brewed in cold water. The method also is designed to produce cold water brewing tea of a suitable size and grade for use within a tea bag. The method also is designed to produce high polyphenol cold brew tea or conventional tea of any suitable size and grade. Thus, by way of the method of the present invention, a black tea is produced that can be brewed in cold water and further which can be used in tea bags. This is achieved without sacrificing any color quality or taste. US Patent 5879730 gives a method of enhancing color in a tea-based food stuff. In this invention a method of inducing the formation of color determining compounds in a tea-based food product, characterized in that the tea leaves are treated with an exogenous laccase, polyphenol oxidase or peroxidase, in combination with a pretreatment with a tannase. Also, a treatment with a fungal laccase form a Pleurotus species can be performed to enhance the color of a tea-based product.

US Patent 4076847 describe tea colored flavor granules which have beverage compositions comprise flavor granules coated on the outer surface with a powdered beverage such as tea, cocoa or coffee, preferably prepared by coating the flavor granules in a rotating granulator.

The various types of teas available in the prior art give the naturally available tea in enhanced colours or flavours. Methods are also available to brew the tea in cold water. However fresh and refreshing different coloured tea is the need of the day.

Object of the invention: -

The main object of the invention is to provide for a method for making fresh tea of sunset yellow colour.

Another object of the invention is to provide for accurate quantities of the ingredients to be mixed with fresh tea powder.

Summary of the invention: -

The present invention is a method of blending sunset yellow colour with tea powder. The method comprises of two main steps. In the first step, a solution of sunset yellow colour is prepared and a limited quantity of fresh tea powder is added to it. The mixture is then dried. Then in the second step a large quantity of fresh tea powder is added to the mixture to give yellow coloured fresh tea powder.

Detailed Description: -

The nature of the invention and the manner in which it is performed is clearly described in the specification. The invention has various components and they are clearly described in the detailed description.

Tea is one of the most widely consumed beverage in the world. Tea is the agricultural product of the leaves, leaf buds and internodes of Camellia sinensis plant. The leaves, leaf buds and internodes of the plant are processed and cured using various methods to prepare tea powder. These processed and cured leaves are added in boiling water to prepare the beverage.

Naturally available tea is usually green or black in colour. Green tea powder is obtained from leaves which are quickly dried after picking. These are unwilted and unoxidized leaves. However if not dried immediately after picking, the leaves start to wilt and the chlorophyll starts breaking down making the leaves darker. Thus we get dark brownish or black coloured tea.

The present invention describes a method for preparing yellow coloured fresh tea by blending sunset yellow colour with tea powder. Sunset Yellow FCF is a synthetic yellow azo dye, manufactured from aromatic hydrocarbons from petroleum. When it is added to foods, it is denoted by E Number El 10.

The method for blending sunset yellow colour with tea powder mainly involves two steps. In the first step, sunset yellow-110 powder is mixed with water and boiled. Then fresh tea powder is mixed with the colour mixture and dried. In the second step, the colour and tea mixture is mixed with fresh tea powder. In this manner yellow coloured fresh tea is prepared by blending sunset yellow colour with tea powder.

The method for the blending of sunset yellow colour with tea powder is as per the following steps:

Step 1

(a) 40 kg of Sunset Yellow-110 powder is mixed with 160 litres of water.

(b)The mixture is boiled at 600C for 1 hour.

(c) 1000 kg of fresh tea powder is mixed with the above mentioned colour mixture.

(d)The resultant mixture is dried at room temperature.

Step 2

After drying, the dried mixture is mixed with 12000 kg fresh tea powder.

The Sunset Yellow-110 powder used in Step 1(a) is a permitted synthetic food colour. The tea powder prepared by the above method is packed in small bags each containing 1 kg of tea powder. Each such bag will contain upto 5 gm of sunset yellow colour in it.

Although the preferred embodiment as well as the method and use have been specifically described in the description, it should be understood that variations in the preferred embodiment could be achieved by a person skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention. The invention has been described with reference to specific embodiment which is merely illustrative and not intended to limit the scope of the invention as defined in the claims.

Claims : -

I claim,

1. A method for blending sunset yellow colour with fresh tea powder comprises the following steps:

Step 1:

(a) mixing of Sunset Yellow-110 powder with water;

(b) boiling the mixture;

(c) mixing fresh tea powder with the colour mixture;

(d) drying the resultant mixture;

Step 2:

mixing the dried mixture with fresh tea powder.

2. The method for blending sunset yellow colour with fresh tea powder as claimed in claim 1 wherein in Step 1(a), 40 kg Sunset Yellow-110 powder is mixed with 160 litres of water.

3. The method for blending sunset yellow colour with fresh tea powder as claimed in claim 1 wherein the Sunset Yellow-110 used is permitted synthetic food colour.

4. The method for blending sunset yellow colour with fresh tea powder as claimed in claim 1 wherein in Step 1(b), the mixture is boiled at 600C for 1 hour.

5. The method for blending sunset yellow colour with fresh tea powder as claimed in claim 1 wherein in Step 1(c), 1000 kg of fresh tea powder is mixed with the colour mixture.

6. The method for blending sunset yellow colour with fresh tea powder as claimed in claim 1 wherein in Step 1(d), the resultant mixture is dried at room temperature.

7. The method for blending sunset yellow colour with fresh tea powder as claimed in claim 1 wherein in Step 2, 12000 kg of fresh tea is mixed with the dried mixture.

8. The method for blending sunset yellow colour with fresh tea powder substantially herein described with reference to the foregoing description.