Abstract:
Disclosed is a process comprising the steps of : providing fresh tea leaves comprising catechins; macerating the fresh tea leaves thereby to produce dhool; fermenting the dhool for a fermentation time (tF) sufficient to reduce the content of catechins in the dhool to less than 50% of the content of catechins in the fresh tea leaves prior to maceration on a dry weight basis; and then expressing juice from the fermented dhool thereby to produce leaf residue and tea juice, wherein the amount of expressed juice is at least 50 ml per kg of the fresh tea leaves.
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Notices, Deadlines & Correspondence
UNILEVER R&D CILWORTH,
SHARNBROOK, BEDFORDSHIRE MK44 1LQ,
UNITED KINGDOM.
3. SHARP DAVID GEORGE
UNILEVER R&D CILWORTH,
SHARNBROOK, BEDFORDSHIRE MK44 1LQ,
UNITED KINGDOM.
4. YOU XIAOQING
UNILEVER R&D CILWORTH,
SHARNBROOK, BEDFORDSHIRE MK44 1LQ,
UNITED KINGDOM.
Specification
FORM - 2
THE PATENTS ACT, 1970
(39 of 1970)
&
The Patents Rules, 2003
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION
(See Section 10 and Rule 13)
PROCESS FOR MANUFACTURING TEA PRODUCTS
HINDUSTAN UNILEVER LIMITED, a company incorporated under
the Indian Companies Act, 1913 and having its registered office
at 165/166, Backbay Reclamation, Mumbai -400 020, Maharashtra, India
The following specification particularly describes the invention and the manner in which it is to be performed
PROCESS FOR MANUFACTURING TEA. PRODUCTS
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a process for manufacturing tea products. In particular, the present invention relates to a process for manufacturing tea products from juice expressed from fermented tea leaves.
BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION
Beverages based on the tea plant {Camellia sinensis) have been popular throughout the world for many hundreds of years. Traditionally such beverages are produced by infusing leaf tea in hot water.
Although many consumers still enjoy beverages made from leaf tea, it is becoming increasingly popular to enjoy tea beverages prepared in more convenient ways. For example, tea beverages can be prepared from instant powders which are free from insoluble leaf tea and so dissolve rapidly and completely on contact with hot water. These powder products are usually manufactured by a process comprising extracting leaf tea with water and drying the resulting extract. Also popular are packaged ready-to-drink beverages which contain dissolved tea solids. Such ready-to-drink teas are usually manufactured from instant powders such as those described above or directly from extraction of tea leaf.
Packaged ready-to-drink tea beverages can sometimes be unstable. In particular, such beverages can often develop haze on storage. This haze formation has been attributed, at least in part, to the poor cold-water solubility of polyphenol species present in the tea solids and which comprise a gallate moiety. Such gallated polyphenols can also
bring unwanted bitterness or astringency to tea beverages. Thus technologies have been developed for decreasing the amount of gallated polyphenols in tea solids.
US 4,051,264 (Thomas J. Lipton, Inc.) discloses treatment of fresh green tea with tannase in order to improve the cold water solubility of tea solids. Tannase is an enzyme which hydrolyzes gallate ester linkages. A drawback with using tannase treatment to decrease the amount of gallated polyphenols is that the gallic acid released during desterification can negatively impact on the flavour of beverages made from the treated tea solids.
Consumers are also increasingly interested in foods and beverages which have a low caffeine content, owing to the perceived health risks of a high caffeine diet. Furthermore, caffeine is known to add to the bitterness of tea beverages. Thus there have been many efforts to manufacture low-caffeine tea products, usually using processes employing extraction of caffeine from tea leaves using a solvent such as methylene chloride, ethyl acetate or carbon dioxide.
US 2007/0231445 Al discloses a method for decaffeinating tea using carbon dioxide compressed to a pressure greater than 50 and up to 100 MPa. A drawback of such decaf feination processes is that the use of non-aqueous solvents is not only unfriendly to the environment, but can also result in removal of valuable compounds from tea other than caffeine.
Surprisingly we have found that the juice expressed from tea leaves under certain conditions is naturally low in gallated polyphenols and/or caffeine. In particular we have found that
such juice can be expressed in high yield from leaves having undergone a specific degree of fermentation.
GB 1,284,721 (FINLIP PRODUCTS LIMITED) discloses a process wherein an extract of tea solids which is soluble in cold water is obtained wholly or partially by one or more pressings of tea leaves, followed by at least one further extraction of the tea leaves with hot water, the said hot water extract being separately subjected to an oxidative solubilising process, and thereafter combining the said extracts to provide a tea product. This document does not disclose the amount of juice expressed from the tea leaves. Furthermore, the tea products prepared by this process are likely to contain substantial levels of gallated polyphenols and/or caffeine as these compounds would be extracted by the hot water extraction.
GB 968,423 (A.M.H. Bake) discloses a method of producing a stable tea juice from fresh tea leaf that has been subjected to the stages of withering, bruising, twisting, fermenting, killing of enzymes, excluding drying, or a selected sequence of these stages, consisting in separating the tea juice from the thus processed leaf in its still moist state. This document does not disclose the amount of juice expressed from the tea leaves. Furthermore, this document does not disclose the specific degree of fermentation required to produce tea juice with the exceptional qualities of the tea juice of the present invention.
TESTS AND DEFINITIONS
Tea
"Tea" for the purposes of the present invention means material from Camellia sinensis var. sinensis and/or Camellia sinensis var. assamica. Especially preferred is material from var.
assamica as this has a higher level of tea actives than var. sinensis.
"Leaf tea" for the purposes of this invention means a tea product that contains tea leaves and/or stem in an uninfused form, and that has been dried to a moisture content of less than 30% by weight, and usually has a water content in the range 1 to 10% by weight (i.e. "made tea").
"Green tea" refers to substantially unfermented tea. "Black tea" refers to substantially fermented tea. "Oolong tea" refers to partially fermented tea.
"Fermentation" refers to the oxidative and hydrolytic process that tea undergoes when certain endogenous enzymes and substrates are brought together, e.g., by mechanical disruption of the cells by maceration of the leaves. During this process colourless catechins in the leaves are converted to a complex mixture of yellow and orange to dark-brown polyphenolic substances.
"Fresh tea leaves" refers to tea leaves and/or stem that have never been dried to a water content of less than 30% by weight, and usually have a water content in the range 60 to 90%.
"Dhool" refers to macerated fresh tea leaves.
Expressing Juice
As used herein the term "expressing juice" refers to squeezing out juice from dhool using physical force, as opposed to extraction of tea solids with the use of a solvent. Thus the term "expressing" encompasses such means as squeezing, pressing, wringing, spinning and extruding. It is possible that a small amount of solvent (e.g. water) is added to the dhool during the
expression step. However, in order to prevent significant extraction of tea solids by the solvent, the moisture content of the dhool during expression is that of fresh tea leaves as defined hereinabove. In other words, during the expression step, the moisture content of the dhool is between 30 and 90% by weight, more preferably between 60 and 90%. It is also preferred that the fresh leaves and/or dhool are not contacted with nonaqueous solvent (e.g. alcohols) prior to or during expression, owing to the environmental & economic problems associated with such solvents.
Beverage
As used herein the term "beverage" refers to a substantially
aqueous drinkable composition suitable for human consumption.
Leaf Size and Grade
For the purposes of the present invention, leaf particle size is
characterised by sieve mesh size using the following convention:
• Tyler mesh sizes are used throughout.
• A w+" before the sieve mesh indicates the particles are retained by the sieve.
• A "-" before the sieve mesh indicates the particles pass through the sieve.
For example, if the particle size is described as -5 +20 mesh, then the particles will pass through a 5 mesh sieve (particles smaller than 4.0 mm) and be retained by a 20 mesh sieve (particles larger than 841 (um) .
Leaf particle size may additionally or alternatively be characterized using the grades listed in the international
standard ISO 6078-1982. These grades are discussed in detail in our European patent specification EP 1 365 657 Bl (especially paragraph [0041] and Table 2) which is hereby incorporated by reference.
Catechins
As used herein the term '"'catechins" is used as a generic term for catechin, gallocatechin, catechin gallate, gallocatechin gallate, epicatechin, epigallocatechin, epicatechin gallate, epigallocatechin gallate, and mixtures thereof. The catechins are sometimes referred to using the following shorthand notation: C for catechin, GC for gallocatechin, CG for catechin gallate, GCG for gallocatechin gallate,, EC for epicatechin, EGC for epigallocatechin, ECG for epicatechin gallate, and EGCG for epigallocatechin gallate. The term "gallated catechins" is used as a generic term for CG, ECG, GCG, EGCG and mixtures thereof.
Theaflavins
As used herein the term "theaflavins" is used as a generic term for theaflavin, theaflavin-3-gallate, theaflavin-3'-gallate, theaflavin-3,3' -digallate and mixtures thereof. The structures of these compounds are well-known {see, for example, structures xi-xiv in Chapter 17 of "Tea - Cultivation to consumption", K.C. Willson and M.N. Clifford (Eds), 1992, Chapman & Hall, London, pp.555-601). The theaflavins are sometimes referred to using the shorthand notation TF1-TF4 wherein TF1 is theaflavin, TF2 is theaflavin-3-gallate, TF3 is theaflavin-3'-gallate and TF4 is theaflavin-3, 3'-digallate (or simply "theaflavin digallate"). The term "gallated theaf lavins" is used as a generic term for TF2, TF3, TF4 and mixtures thereof.
Determination of Catechins and Caffeine in Tea Leaves or Dhool For fresh tea leaves, the leaves are steamed to prevent fermentation and then dried to yield green leaf tea. For dhool, the dhool is fired to arrest fermentation and yield leaf tea. The amounts of catechins and caffeine in the leaf tea are then determined simultaneously by reverse-phase HPLC as follows.
Sample Preparation
1. Grind the leaf tea using a Cyclotech™ 1093 sample mill (FOSS Ltd, Warrington, Cheshire, UK) fitted with a 0.5 um, screen, until a fine powder is achieved.
2. Weigh accurately approximately 200 mg of the ground tea into an extraction tube, and record the mass.
3. Warm at least 20 ml of a methanol-water solution (70% v/v methanol in distilled water) to 70°C.
4. Add 5 ml of the hot methanol-water solution to the extraction tube. Gently mix the methanol-water and tea material on a vortex mixer; place in a water bath at 70°C for 5 minutes; mix again and then place in a water bath at 70°C for a further 5 minutes.
5. Gently mix the methanol-water and tea material on a vortex mixer again and then allow too cool for a 10 minutes at an air temperature of 20°C.
6. Centrifuge the extraction tube at a relative centrifugal force (RCF) of 2900 g for 10 minutes.
7. The extraction tube should now contain a liquid supernatant on top of a plug of tea material. Carefully decant supernatant into a clean graduated test tube.
8. Add 5 ml of the hot methanol-water solution to the plug in
the extraction tube. Gently mix the methanol-water and tea
material on a vortex mixer; place in a water bath at 70°C for 5
minutes; mix again and then place in a water bath at 70°C for a
further 5 minutes.
9. Gently mix the methanol-water and tea material on a vortex
mixer again and then allow too cool for a 10 minutes at an air
temperature of 20°C.
10. Centrifuge the extraction tube at a RCF of 2900 g for 10
minutes.
11. The extraction tube should now contain a liquid supernatant on top of a plug of tea material. Carefully decant supernatant into the graduated test tube containing the supernatant from step 7.
12. Make up the pooled supernatants to 10 ml with the methanol-water solution.
13. Add 1 ml of a solution of 2.5 mg/ml EDTA and 2.5 mg/ml ascorbic acid in distilled water to the graduated test tube.
14. Dilute 1 part of the pooled supernatant mixture with 4 parts (by volume) of 10% acetonitrile stabiliser solution (10% v/v acetonitrile/ 0.25 mg/ml ascorbic acid and 0.25 mg/ml EDTA in distilled water).
15. Decant the diluted pooled supernatant mixture into
microcentrifuge tubes and centrifuge in a bench top centrifuge at
a RCF of 14000 g for 10 minutes.
HPLC Analysis conditions
Column: Luna Phenyl hexyl 5u, 250 x 4.60 mm
Flow rate: 1 ml/min
Oven temperature: 30 °C
Solvents: A: 2% acetic acid in acetonitrile
B: 2% acetic acid and 0.02 mg/ml EDTA in water
Injection volume: 10 ul
Gradient:
Time % Solvent A % Solvent B Step
0 to 10 min 5 95 Isocratic
10 to 40 min 5-18 95-85 Linear gradient
40 to 50 min 18 82 Isocratic
50 to 55 min 50 50 Wash
55 to 75 min 5 95 Isocratic
Quantification: Peak area relative to a calibration curve constructed daily. Calibration curve is constructed from caffeine and the concentration of catechins is calculated using the relative response factors of the individual catechins to caffeine (from the ISO catechin method - ISO/CD 14502-2). Individual caffeine standards (Sigma, Poole, Dorset, UK) are used as peak identification markers.
Determination of Catechins and Caffeine in Juice and Beverages The amounts of catechins and caffeine in a liquid sample are determined simultaneously by reverse-phase HPLC as follows:
Sample Preparation
1. 9 ml of the sample are taken and 1.12 ml of acetonitrile added, along with 1.12 ml of a solution of 2.5 mg/ml EDTA and 2.5 mg/ml ascorbic acid in distilled water.
2. The resulting solution is then decanted into microcentrifuge tubes and centrifuged at a RCF of 14000 g for 10 minutes.
HPLC Analysis conditions
The HPLC analysis conditions are identical to those given above
for the tea leaves.
Determination of Theaflavins in Juice and Beverages Reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography is used to quantify the amount of theaflavins in a liquid sample as follows:
Sample Preparation
1. 2 parts by weight of acetonitrile and 1 part by weight of a stabilising solution of 25 mg/ml EDTA and 25 mg/ml ascorbic acid in distilled water is added to 8 parts by weight of sample.
2. The diluted sample is then decanted into microcentrifuge tubes and centrifuged at a relative centrifugal force (RCF) of 14000 g for 10 minutes.
HPLC Analysis conditions
Column: Hypersil C18, 3|I, 100 x 4.60mm
Flow rate: 1. 8 ml /min
Oven temperature: 30"C
Solvents: A: 2% acetic acid in acetonitrile
B: 2% acetic acid in water Injection volume: 10 jxl Gradient: Isocratic at 20% A and 80% B.
Quantification: The catechins are eluted at the beginning of the chromatogram in a broad unresolved peak and the theaflavins are eluted between 5-15 min. Detection is at 274 nm. Peak area is measured relative to a calibration curve constructed daily. The calibration curve is constructed from a series of solutions containing known amounts of a tea extract previously analysed against pure theaflavin standards.
Determination of Theanine in Juice and Beverages
The amount of theanine in a liquid sample is determined by reversed phase HPLC chromatography using fluorimetric detection following post-column derivatisation with o-pthalaldehyde.
Sample Preparation
The sample is diluted with de-ionised water (25C>C) in a weight
ratio of sample:water of 1:10.
HPLC Analysis conditions
Column: Hypersil HyPURITY Elite™ C18, 5|l, 150mm x 4.6cm
Flow rate: 1 ml/min
Oven temperature: 35°C
Solvents: A: 5 mM pentadecafluorooctanoic acid in water
B: 5 mM pentadecafluorooctanoic acid in acetonitrile
Gradient:
Time (min) % Solvent A % Solvent B
0 85 15
8 85 15
10 80 20
11 10 90
14 10 90
15 85 15
31 85 15
Quantification: The eluant from the column is fed into a low dead-volume 3-way junction and mixed with the o-Pthalaldehyde reagent in a 1:1 ratio, the o-Pthalaldehyde reagent being pumped at 1 ml/minute by the isocratic pump. (The o-Pthalaldehyde reagent is 1.0 g/1 o-Pthalaldehyde, 5 ml/1 methanol, 2 ml/1 Brij 35 and 3 ml/1 2-mercaptoethanol in pH 10 borate buffer.) Fluorescence detection is: Excitation = 340 nm and Emission = 425 nm. Peak area relative to a calibration curve constructed daily is used for quantification. The calibration curve is constructed
from dilutions of a standard solution of Suntheanine™ (Taiyo KK) .
Determination of Total Polyphenols
The total polyphenol content of a sample is determined using the Folin-Ciocalteu method as detailed in the International Standard published by the International Organization for Standardization as ISO 14502-1:2005 (E).
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
We have surprisingly found that the amount of caffeine in tea juice expressed from dhool decreases with the degree of fermentation. Furthermore we have found that tea juice typically has a lower proportion of gallated theaflavins compared with conventional tea extracts and that the proportion of gallated theaflavins in the juice also varies with the degree of fermentation before expression. In particular, we have found that juice expressed from dhool which has been fermented for sufficient time to oxidise at least 50% of the catechins in the tea leaves is particularly low in caffeine and/or gallated theaflavins.
Thus in a first aspect, the present invention provides a process comprising the steps of:
a) providing fresh tea leaves comprising catechins;
b) macerating the fresh tea leaves thereby to produce dhool;
c) fermenting the dhool for a fermentation time (tF) sufficient to reduce the content of catechins in the dhool to less than 50% of the content of catechins in the fresh tea leaves on a dry weight basis; and then
d) expressing juice from the fermented dhool thereby to produce leaf residue and tea juice, wherein the amount of
expressed juice is at least 50 ml per kg of the fresh tea leaves.
In a second aspect, the present invention provides tea juice obtained and/or obtainable by the process and in a third aspect a beverage obtained and/or obtainable by diluting the tea juice. Such juice and beverages will have a low level of gallated theaflavins and/or a low level of caffeine and thus may be more stable and/or less bitter than tea juices produced by alternative processes.
A convenient indication of the proportion of gallated theaflavins is the ratio of TF1 to TF4 and a convenient indication of the caffeine content is the ratio of theanine to caffeine.
Thus, in a further aspect, the present invention provides a composition comprising theaflavins, theanine and caffeine, wherein the theaflavins comprise theaflavin (TF1) and theaflavin digallate (TF4), and wherein:
the weight ratio of theaflavin to theaflavin digallate (TF1/TF4) is at least 2.0; and
the weight ratio of theanine to caffeine is greater than 0.7.
Such a composition will be more stable and/or less bitter than known compositions comprising theaflavins and caffeine.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
Providing Fresh Tea Leaves
Step (a) of the process of the invention comprises providing
fresh tea leaves comprising catechins.
It is particularly preferred that the fresh tea leaves comprise material from var. assamica as this variety naturally has a high level of tea actives and so leads to a high level of actives in the leaf residue even after removal of the juice. Most preferably the fresh leaves are fresh leaves from var. assamica.
The fresh tea leaves are preferably provided in freshly plucked form, i.e. without any further processing. The fresh tea leaves preferably comprise actively growing buds, e.g. in the form of the first two or three leaves together with the unopened bud (so-called wtwo-and-a-bud" and/or "three-and-a-bud" material).
The fresh tea leaves may be withered prior to step (b) . If so, the tea leaves are typically withered for about 12 to 36 hours. Withering allows certain chemical and biochemical changes to occur and also reduces the moisture content of the leaves to around 35 to 70%. The biochemical and/or chemical changes taking place during withering may increase the yield of the volatile flavour compounds in tea.
The present invention is found to work well with fresh leaves with or without any special pre-treatment. Thus it is preferred that the leaves have not undergone a freeze-thaw process prior to step (b) and/or step (d).
Furthermore, in order to allow fermentation to occur without the
use of exogenous enzymes, it is preferred that the fresh tea
leaves have not been heat-treated in order to deactivate the
endogenous fermentation enzymes.
Macerating the Fresh Tea Leaves
Step (b) of the process of the invention comprises macerating the
fresh tea leaves thereby to produce dhool.
Maceration involves wounding the leaves e.g. by rolling and/or crushing the leaves i.e. to break down the plant tissue structure. In black tea manufacture this has the effect of liberating fermentable substrates and fermenting enzymes from within the plant cells and tissue. The maceration is preferably achieved by passing the fresh tea leaves through a cutting machine. Thus for the purpose of the invention the fresh tea leaves may be macerated by a maceration process using, for example, a CTC machine, rotorvane, ball mill, grinder, hammer mill, Lawri tea processor, Legg cutting machine, or tea rollers as in orthodox tea processing. Combinations of these maceration processes may also be used.
Fermenting the Dhool
Step (c) of the process of the invention comprises fermenting the
dhool.
The degree of fermentation is conveniently judged by the proportion of oxidised catechins. In particular, one can measure a quantity, Co, which is the amount of catechins in the fresh tea leaves prior to maceration in percent by dry weight of the fresh leaves. One can then measure a second quantity, CF, which is the amount of catechins in the dhool after a given fermentation time, tF, in percent by dry weight of the dhool. One can then use these values to calculate the degree of fermentation, R, as the content of catechins in the dhool at tF as a percentage of the content of catechins in the fresh tea leaves prior to maceration on a dry weight basis. In other words, the degree of fermentation can be calculated as follows:
R(%) = 100CF/Co, such that for negligible fermentation R = 100% and for complete fermentation R = 0%.
We have found that fermentation for a time (tp) sufficient to reduce the content of catechins in the dhool to less than 50% of the content of catechins in the fresh tea leaves prior to maceration on a dry weight basis (i.e. R < 50%) results in significant and surprising changes in the composition of the juice expressed from the dhool. In particular, the greater the degree of fermentation (lower R), the lower the proportion of gallated theaflavins and/or caffeine is found in the expressed juice. Preferably, tF is sufficient to reduce the amount of catechins in the dhool to less than 40% (i.e. R < 40%), more preferably less than 30%, and most preferably from 25 to 0% of the content of catechins in the fresh tea leaves prior to maceration on a dry weight basis.
The exact time required to produce the desired degree of fermentation will depend, amongst other things, on the temperature of the dhool, the degree of maceration of the dhool and the supply of oxygen to the dhool. Typically, however, tp is at least 1 hour, more preferably at least 1.5 hours, more preferably still at least 1.75 hors and most preferably from 2 to 24 hours.
The preferred fermentation temperature is from 10 to 40°C, more preferably from 15 to 25°C. Too low a temperature results in a slow rate of fermentation whilst too high a temperature may result in deactivation of oxidative enzymes and/or generation of unwanted reaction products.
Expression of Juice
Step (d) of the process of the invention comprises expressing
juice from the fermented dhool thereby to produce leaf residue
and tea juice, wherein the amount of expressed juice is at least 50 ml per kg of the fresh tea leaves.
If the amount of juice expressed is too low then it becomes difficult to separate the juice from the leaf residue and/or leads to an inefficient process. Thus it is preferred that the amount of expressed juice is at least 100 ml per kg of the fresh tea leaves, more preferably at least 150 ml, more preferably still at least 175 ml and most preferably at least 200 ml. When referring to the volume of juice expressed per unit mass of tea leaves it should be noted that the mass of the tea leaves is expressed on an "as is" basis and not a dry weight basis. Thus the mass includes any moisture in the leaves.
It is also advantageous to limit the amount of juice expressed as this limits damage to the residual leaf and allows it to be used to manufacture tea products of at least conventional quality. Thus it is preferred that the amount of expressed juice is less than 800 ml per kg of fresh leaves, more preferably less than 500 ml, more preferably still less than 300 ml and most preferably less than 275 ml.
The expression step can be achieved in any convenient way so long as it allows for separation of the tea juice from the leaf residue and results in the required quantity of juice. The machinery used to express the juice may, for example, include a hydraulic press, a pneumatic press, a screw press, a belt press, an extruder or a combination thereof.
The juice may be obtained from the dhool in a single pressing or in multiple pressings of the dhool. Preferably the juice is obtained from a single pressing as this allows for a simple and rapid process.
In order to minimise degradation of the valuable tea compounds, it is preferred that the expression step is performed at ambient temperature. For example, the dhool temperature may be from 5 to 40°C, more preferably 10 to 30°C.
The time and pressure used in the expression step can be varied to yield the required amount of juice. Typically, however, the pressures applied to express the juice will range from 0.5 MPa (73 psi) to 10 MPa (1450 psi). The time over which the pressure is applied will typically range from 1 s to 1 hour, more preferably from 10 s to 20 minutes and most preferably from 30 s to 5 minutes.
Processing the Leaf Residue
In order to maximise the efficiency of the process it is preferred that the leaf residue is not discarded but is further processed to produce a commercially viable product, such as leaf tea and/or tea extract. In a particularly preferred embodiment, the process comprises an additional step (e) wherein the leaf residue is processed to produce leaf tea.
The leaf residue may be processed to produce black leaf tea or oolong leaf tea, more preferably black leaf tea.
The manufacturing processes of black leaf tea and oolong leaf tea are well known and suitable processes are described, for example, in "Tea: Cultivation to Consumption", K.C. Willson and M,N. Clifford (Eds), 1st Edn, 1992, Chapman & Hall (London), Chapters 13 and 14.
A step common to manufacture of all leaf teas is a drying step. In the case of oolong and black leaf tea, the drying step usually
also serves to deactivate the fermentation enzymes. Efficient drying requires high temperatures and so it is preferred that step