INDEX

CONTENTS PAGE NO
INTRODUCTION
COMPONENTS OF
TEA
TEA AND HEALTH
EXPERIEMENTS:
EXP 1
EXP2
EXP 3
CONCLUSION
BIBLOGRAPHY
STUDY OF CONTENTS RESPONSIBLE
FOR FLAVOUR OF TEA
INTRODUCTION:
Tea is the most commonly and widely used soft beverage in
the household. It acts as a stimulant for central nervous
system and skeletal muscles. That is why tea removes
fatigue, tiredness and headache. It also increases the
capacity of thinking. It is also used for lowering body
temperature. The principle constituent of tea, which is
responsible for all these properties, is the alkaloid - caffeine.
The amount of caffeine in tea leaves varies from sample to
sample. Originally it was thought that caffeine is responsible
for the taste and flavour of tea. But pure caffeine has been
found to be a tasteless while substance. Therefore, the taste
and flavour of tea is due to some other substance present in
it. There is a little doubt that the popularity of the xanthenes
beverages depends on their stimulant action, although most
people are unaware of anystimulation. The degree to which
an individual is stimulated by given amount of caffeine
varies from individual to individual. Tea is made from the
young leaves and buds of the tea plant .Besides caffeine, tea
leaves contain tannic acid and colouring matter, such as
polyphenolic compounds. The relative amounts ofthese
substances are different in different varieties of tea leaves,
that is why, their taste and flavour are different The
brownish colour of the tea is due to the presence of
polyphenolic compounds and some inorganic icons like
Mn2+, Fe 3+etc. some simple experiments can be carried out
to study thecomponents that are responsible for the
variation in tea flavour invarious brand of tea.

COMPONENTS OF TEA
1. CAFFEINE :
Caffeine is a purine derivative, which is 1,3 ,7-tri-methyl
xanthine. Caffeine content in black tea is around 3 - 4% of
dry weight. It has stimulating property and removes
mental fatigue. The contribution of caffeine to the infusion
is the briskness and creamy property resulting from the
complex formed by caffeine with polyphenols. Briskness is
a taste and sensation while creaming is the turbidity that
develops from a good cup of tea when cooled .On the
contrary their excessive use is harmful to digestion and
their long use leads to mental retardation.
2 .TEA FIBRE :
The leaf cell wall, containing cellulostic materials
surrounded by hemi-cellulose and a lignin seal, prevents
the penetration of hydrolyzing enzymes. The reduced
succulence in the matured shoot is believed to be due to
structural bonding between phenolic components of
lignin, polysaccharides and cutin of cell wall.
3. CARBOHYDRATES :
The free sugars found in tea shoot are glucose, fructose,
sucrose, raffinose and stachyose . Maltose in Assam
variety and rhamnose inchina variety appeared special.
Pectic substances contain galactose,arabinose,
galacturonic acid, rhamnose and ribose. Free sugars are
responsible for the synthesis of catechins in tea shoot,
formation of heterocyclic flavour compounds during
processing of black tea and contributing towards water-
soluble solids in tea liquor. Cellulose, hemi-cellulose,
pectin and lignins are responsible for the formation of
crude fibre content in black tea.

4. AMINO ACIDS:
Aspartic, glutamic, serine, glutamine and theanine (5-N-
ethylglutamine) were found to be the principal amino
acids present in tea leaf. Theanine alone contributed
around 60% of total amino acid content. The amino
acidsplay an important role in the development of tea
aroma during the processing of black tea.

5. ORGANIC ACIDS:
Citric, tartaric, malic, oxalic, fumaric and succinic acids
were detected in Assam leaf. Role of organic acids towards
the biochemical influence on the quality of black tea is not
yet reported.
 TEA AND HEALTH
A large body of scientific evidence indicates the benefits of
tea drinking for its wide range of medicinal properties.
Tea prevents coronary heart disease, hypertension, blood
sugar and tooth decay. Tea has also been reported to have
antiviral and germicidal activity. The most important
medicinal value of tea is that it is anticarcinogenic and
antimutagenic. The anticarcinogenic activity contributed
by the antioxidant polyphenols in tea has been shown to
be in very low concentration even in consumer dosages.
Thus tea offers tremendous scope of emerging as practical
chemipreventive included in a healthy diet for protection
of the general consumers by lowering the risk of different

types of cancer.
 EXPERIEMENTS
EXP : 1
AIM: compare the water soluble polyphenol (catechin)
content in the various samples of tea leaves.

REQUIREMENTS: Beakers, conical flasks, funnels,

heating arrangement and tea bags of different brands of tea.
THEORY: Tea contains up to 30% of the water soluble
polyphenols. These are largely responsible for the flavour of
the tea. To estimate the extent of these compounds in a given
sample, the tea leaves are immersed in hot water for equal
time and loss in the weight of tea leaves in determined

PROCEDURE:
1. Weigh the different samples of tea and place them in
teabags.
2. Take three or four conical flasks and put 100ml of hot
water to each of them.
3. Put tea bags of different samples of tea in the different
conical flasks. After 10 minutes remove the tea bags and dry
them by placing in an oven.

OBSERVATION:
s.no Brand Initial Final Loss of % of water
name of weight weight weight soluble
tea (xg) (yg) (x-y)/g component
=x-y/x*100
1)
2)
3)
RESULT: The tea having better taste has more poly-
phenol content.

EXP: 2
AIM: Compare the tannic acid content of various samples
of tea.

REQUIREMENTS: Beakers, conical flasks, funnel,

heating arrangement, various samples of tea, calcium
carbonate, conc. HCL
THEORY: The tannic acid present in tea leaves is
precipitated as calcium tannate by treatment of aqueous
solution of tea with calcium carbonate. Calcium tannate is
then hydrolysed with conc. HCL andre-crystallised from
water.

tannic acid

PROCEDURE:
1. Weigh 5g of each of the given samples of tea leaves.
2. Take 100ml of distilled water in a 400ml beaker and boil
it. Then add the first sample of tea leaves to it and boil for
10minutes. Cool and filter the solution
3. To the filtrate add about 2g of solid calcium carbonate
and boil the contents. Tannic acid gets precipitated as
calciumtannate. Separate the precipitate of calcium tannate
byfiltration.
4. Calcium tannate obtained is hydrolysed by warming with
4-5ml of conc. HCL. The tannic acid obtained is crystallized
from water and weighed.
5. Repeat the steps 2, 3 and 4 with the other samples of tea
and record the observations.
 OBSERVATION:
s.no Brand of Initial Final Loss of % of water
tea name weight weight weight soluble
(xg) (yg) (x-y)g component
=x-y/x*100
1)

2)

3)

4)

RESULT: The tea sample containing higher percentage

of tannic acid gives better flavour.
EXP:3
AIM: Compare the caffeine content of the different
samples of tea.

REQUIREMENTS: Beakers, Conical flasks, heating

arrangement, different samples of tea, sulphuric acid and
chloroform.
THEORY: Tea contains caffeine up to 4%. It is more
soluble in chloroform than in water. Therefore, it can be
extracted from the aqueous extract of the tea with
chloroform. However, tannic acid and lead interfere in the
extraction and these have to be removed first. Tannic acid is
removed as calcium tannate and lead as lead sulphate. After
the removal of tannic acid and lead, caffeine is extracted
with chloroform.

PROCEDURE:
1. To the filtrate from Experiment 2 add about 1ml of dil.
HSO4. Lead gets precipitated as lead sulphate.
2. Remove the ppt. by filtration and extract the filtrate with
chloroform 3-4 times.
3. Combine the chloroform extract and remove the solvent
by heating on a stream bath. The residue left behind is
caffeine.
4. Weigh the residue left behind.
5. Similarly, determine the amount of caffeine in other
samples of tea.

OBSERVATION:
s.no Brand Weight of Weight of % of
name of tea leaves caffeine caffeine
tea taken (xg) obtained =y/x*100
(yg)
1)
2)
3)
4)

RESULT: The tea sample containing higher percentage

of caffeine gives better flavour.
 CONCLUSION
Tea is made from the young leaves and buds of the tea plant.
Besides caffeine, tea leaves contain tannic acid and colouring
matter, such as poly phenolic compounds. The relative
amounts of these substances are different in different
varieties of tea leaves, which is why, their taste and flavour
are different. The brownish colour of the tea is due to the
presence of poly phenolic compounds and some inorganic
icons like Mn 2+, Fe 3+etc.Tea contains up to 30% of the
water soluble polyphenols. These are largely responsible for
the flavour of the tea. It contains caffeine up to 4%. It is
more soluble in chloroform than in water. Therefore, it can
be extracted from the aqueous extract of the tea with
chloroform. However, tannic acid and lead interfere in the
extraction and these have to be removed first. Tea acts as a
stimulant for central nervous system and skeletal muscles
and removes fatigue, tiredness and headache. The principle
constituent of tea, which is responsible for all these
properties, is the alkaloid-caffeine. The amount of caffeine in
tealeaves varies from sample to sample. The conclusions
from the three experiments are as follows:
1. The tea having better flavour has more poly phenol
content.
2. The tea sample containing higher percentage of tannic
acid gives better flavour.
3. The tea sample containing higher percentage of caffeine
gives better flavour.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
: www.google.com.
: www.wikipedia.com.
: https://www.scribd.com/document/362128560/Chemistry-
project-on-factors-responsible-for-tea-s-flavour.
: https://www.slideshare.net/tarunranaalwaysrockxx/chemist
y-project-on-detection-of-caffeine-in-tea.
: chemistry lab manual.