JP2007117006A - Method for producing tea beverage - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method for producing tea beverage for promoting opening of tea leaves in low-temperature extraction without forcing and obtaining tea beverage excellent in flavor, especially excellent in taste and nourishing. <P>SOLUTION: This method for producing the tea beverage comprises: (i) a process of bringing tea leaves into contact with saturated steam to promote opening of the tea leaves in a low-temperature extraction process; (ii) a process of extracting the treated tea leaves in low temperature water to obtain an extracted solution; and (iii) a process of sterilizing the extracted solution. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for producing a tea beverage.

  Various methods have been considered for conventional tea beverage extraction processes. Among them, it has been known that by extracting tea leaves with low-temperature water, an extract having strong umami and less bitterness and astringency can be obtained.

However, the low temperature extraction has a problem that it is difficult to elute the components from the tea leaves, and to obtain a soluble solid content equivalent to the high temperature extraction, the tea leaves must be used a lot or the extraction time must be lengthened. Therefore, the prior art has been subjected to low temperature extraction by various means. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a method for producing a tea beverage characterized by high temperature extraction followed by low temperature extraction. By this method, a tea beverage having a high aroma by high temperature extraction, deep umami and richness by low temperature extraction, and a weak astringency is provided. Patent Document 2 discloses a method for producing a product that balances umami and aroma with at least two types of extracted water of low temperature extraction and high temperature extraction. Patent Document 3 discloses a method for producing a tea beverage in which fermented tea leaves and semi-fermented tea leaves are extracted at less than 10 ° C., extracted and mixed with warm water of 50 ° C. or higher, and then sterilized. Patent Document 4 discloses a method for producing a green tea beverage in which green tea leaves are extracted with water at -5 to 9 ° C, and an extract obtained by extracting the extraction residue with hot water at 50 to 100 ° C is mixed and sterilized. Patent Document 5 discloses a method for producing a green tea beverage in a sealed container in which a green tea extract extracted from a cold and warm aqueous medium at 45 to 70 ° C. is blended with a fresh leaf extract. Patent Document 6 discloses a method for producing a tea extract in which tea leaves are extracted using an enzyme as a method for extraction at a low temperature in a short time. Patent Document 7 discloses an extraction method in which ultrasonic waves are irradiated in order to obtain an extract with good quality by cold / hot water extraction in a short time.
JP-A-6-303904 JP-A-11-56242 JP2003-230358 Patent 3590027 JP2001-258477 JP2003-210110 Tokuhira 8-103220

  The above conventional techniques are: i) a method of mixing a high temperature extract or tea extract (Patent Documents 1 to 5), ii) a method of promoting extraction using an enzyme (Patent Document 6), iii) irradiating ultrasonic waves during extraction It can be roughly divided into methods (Patent Document 7).

  However, in the method i), a high temperature extract or a tea extract must be mixed with the low temperature extract, and it was not possible to enjoy only the low temperature extract. In ii), the use of enzymes makes the work complicated, and the enzyme reaction time requires at least 1 to 2 hours. Further, in the method iii), it is difficult to perform extraction while irradiating ultrasonic waves industrially because the facility becomes large.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a production method for accelerating the opening of tea leaves in low-temperature extraction and obtaining a tea beverage excellent in flavor, particularly excellent in taste.

  The method for producing a tea beverage of the present invention comprises (i) a step of bringing tea leaves into contact with saturated steam and promoting the opening of tea leaves in a low temperature extraction step; and (ii) extracting the tea leaves subjected to the treatment with low temperature water. And (iii) a step of sterilizing the extract.

  Steaming the tea leaves before performing low temperature extraction promotes the opening of the tea leaves and makes it possible to obtain an extract without difficulty even in low temperature extraction, and it is possible to obtain tea beverages with excellent flavor, particularly tea beverages with excellent taste. . Moreover, the extraction efficiency can be increased by steaming the tea leaves, and a tea extract having an excellent flavor can be obtained in a short time. In addition, an extract with an appropriate concentration can be obtained without excessive stirring, so that an extract with less transparency and an increased transparency can be obtained, which is a secondary effect that reduces the load on the subsequent filtration process. Can also be expected.

  Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail.

  Examples of tea leaves used in the present invention include non-fermented tea (such as green tea), semi-fermented tea (such as oolong tea), and fermented tea (such as black tea).

  In this specification, “saturated vapor” refers to vapor when the vapor coexists in an equilibrium state with a liquid or solid of the same substance.

  “Contacting tea leaves with saturated steam” means bringing steam heated under pressure with a boiler or the like into contact with tea leaves. By bringing saturated steam into contact for 10 to 240 seconds, more preferably 30 to 200 seconds, the opening of the tea leaves during low temperature extraction can be accelerated and the extraction can be promoted. If the time for which the steam is contacted is too short, the tea leaves cannot be sufficiently opened during extraction, and conversely if too long, the tea leaves are thermally deteriorated and a steaming odor is generated.

  As the extraction method, a normal extraction method can be used, and examples thereof include a kneader extraction method and a drip extraction method. Examples of the water used for extraction include tap water, distilled water, ion exchange water, and the like, but ion exchange water is preferable from the viewpoint of taste. When the extraction temperature is 50 ° C. or higher, the tea leaves open regardless of the length of the step of contacting with the saturated steam. Therefore, the extraction temperature is preferably less than 50 ° C., and more preferably 35 ° C. or lower from the viewpoint of flavor. The effect of contacting with saturated steam is promoted as the extraction temperature is lowered. However, if it is less than 0 ° C., problems such as freezing of the extract occur, and therefore, 0 ° C. or higher is preferable. The extraction time is shortened by bringing tea leaves into contact with saturated steam, and a tea extract with excellent flavor can be obtained in 5 to 45 minutes.

  As a sterilization method, a method performed before filling into a sealed container or a method of performing heat sterilization after filling into a sealed container can be used. Examples of the sealed container include cans, bottles, PET bottles, paper containers, etc. . Examples of the method of sterilizing before filling the sealed container include an indirect sterilization method (plate type heat exchanger or the like) and a direct sterilization method. On the other hand, as a method of performing heat sterilization after filling a sealed container, for example, a method of performing sterilization in a retort kettle can be mentioned.

  Next, although this invention is demonstrated based on a specific Example, it cannot be overemphasized that this invention is not what is limited to a following example. Moreover, although the following examples are about green tea, the same effect can be acquired also with teas other than green tea.

  First, an experiment was conducted to visually check the open state of the tea leaves under various conditions.

[Examples 1-1 to 5]
After steaming 20 g of green tea leaves with saturated steam for 30 seconds, extract with 1000 g of ion-exchanged water, and visually check the open state of the tea leaves 1 min, 5 min, 15 min, 30 min and 45 min after the start of extraction. Confirmed. Extraction temperature extracted in each temperature section of 5 degreeC, 10 degreeC, 20 degreeC, 30 degreeC, and 50 degreeC.

[Examples 2-1 to 5]
After steaming 20 g of green tea leaves with saturated steam for 60 seconds, extract with 1000 g of ion-exchanged water, and visually check the open state of the tea leaves 1 minute, 5 minutes, 15 minutes, 30 minutes and 45 minutes after the start of extraction. Confirmed. Extraction temperature extracted in each temperature section of 5 degreeC, 10 degreeC, 20 degreeC, 30 degreeC, and 50 degreeC.

[Examples 3-1 to 5]
After steaming 20 g of green tea leaves with saturated steam for 90 seconds, extract with 1000 g of ion-exchanged water, and visually check the open state of the tea leaves 1 minute, 5 minutes, 15 minutes, 30 minutes, and 45 minutes after the start of extraction. Confirmed. Extraction temperature extracted in each temperature section of 5 degreeC, 10 degreeC, 20 degreeC, 30 degreeC, and 50 degreeC.

[Examples 4-1 to 5]
After steaming 20 g of green tea leaves with saturated steam for 180 seconds, extraction with 1000 g of ion-exchanged water was performed, and the open state of the tea leaves after 1 min, 5 min, 15 min, 30 min and 45 min after the start of extraction was visually observed. Confirmed. Extraction temperature extracted in each temperature section of 5 degreeC, 10 degreeC, 20 degreeC, 30 degreeC, and 50 degreeC.

[Comparative Examples 1-1 to 6]
20 g of green tea leaves were extracted with 1000 g of ion-exchanged water, and the open state of the tea leaves after 1 minute, 5 minutes, 15 minutes, 30 minutes and 45 minutes after the start of extraction was visually confirmed. Extraction was performed at 5 ° C, 10 ° C, 20 ° C, 30 ° C, 50 ° C, and 80 ° C.

[Comparative Examples 2-1 to 5]
After steaming 20 g of green tea leaves with saturated steam for 5 seconds, extract with 1000 g of ion-exchanged water, and visually check the open state of the tea leaves 1 minute, 5 minutes, 15 minutes, 30 minutes and 45 minutes after the start of extraction. Confirmed. Extraction temperature extracted in each temperature section of 5 degreeC, 10 degreeC, 20 degreeC, 30 degreeC, and 50 degreeC.

  The results are shown in Table 1.

  When the steaming time was 30 seconds, it took 45 minutes at the extraction temperature of 5 ° C., 30 minutes at the extraction temperature of 10 ° C., and 5 minutes at the extraction temperatures of 20 ° C. and 30 ° C. in order to open the tea leaves almost completely. At an extraction temperature of 50 ° C., tea leaves were almost completely opened within 1 minute (Examples 1-1 to 5).

  When the steaming time was 60 seconds, it took 15 minutes at an extraction temperature of 5 ° C. and 5 minutes at an extraction temperature of 10 ° C. for the tea leaves to open almost completely. When the extraction temperature was 20 ° C. or higher, tea leaves were almost completely opened within 1 minute (Examples 2-1 to 5).

  When the steaming time was 90 seconds, it took 5 minutes at the extraction temperature of 5 ° C. to open the tea leaf almost completely, but the tea leaf was almost completely opened within 1 minute at the extraction temperature of 10 ° C. or higher (Example 3). -1 to 5).

  When the steaming time was 180 seconds, the tea leaves were almost completely opened within 1 minute regardless of the extraction temperature (Examples 4-1 to 5).

  On the other hand, in the case where the tea leaves were not steamed before performing the low temperature extraction, the low temperature extraction at an extraction temperature of 30 ° C. or lower did not completely open the tea leaves even after 45 minutes (Comparative Examples 1-1 to 6). In addition, even when the tea leaves were steamed before the low temperature extraction, if the steaming time was very short as 5 seconds, the tea leaves could not be completely opened even after 45 minutes in the low temperature extraction at an extraction temperature of 30 ° C. or less ( Comparative Examples 2-1 to 5).

  Next, green tea drinks were produced under various conditions, and sensory evaluation was performed.

[Example 5]
After steaming 20 g of green tea leaves with saturated steam for 60 seconds, extraction with 1000 g of ion exchange water at 20 ° C. for 25 minutes and removing the green tea leaves by coarse filtration, the nel filtration is performed to obtain an extract to increase the extraction efficiency. confirmed. Thereafter, 0.8 g of ascorbic acid (BASF Takeda Vitamin Co., Ltd.) was added to the extract to make up to 2000 g, and adjusted to pH 6.2 with sodium bicarbonate to obtain a preparation. The prepared liquid was filled in a sealed container at 95 ° C., sterilized at 121 ° C. for 10 minutes, and a green tea beverage was obtained for sensory evaluation.

[Example 6]
After steaming 20 g of green tea leaves with saturated steam for 60 seconds, extraction with 1000 g of ion-exchanged water at 10 ° C. for 45 minutes and removing green tea leaves by coarse filtration, followed by Nell filtration to obtain an extract to increase the extraction efficiency. confirmed. Thereafter, 0.8 g of ascorbic acid (BASF Takeda Vitamin Co., Ltd.) was added to the extract to make up to 2000 g, and adjusted to pH 6.2 with sodium bicarbonate to obtain a preparation. The prepared liquid was filled in a sealed container at 95 ° C., sterilized at 121 ° C. for 10 minutes, and a green tea beverage was obtained for sensory evaluation.

[Example 7]
After steaming 20g of green tea leaves with saturated steam for 90 seconds, extraction with 1000g of ion-exchanged water at 30 ° C for 15 minutes and removing green tea leaves by coarse filtration, followed by Nell filtration to obtain an extract to increase the extraction efficiency. confirmed. Thereafter, 0.8 g of ascorbic acid (BASF Takeda Vitamin Co., Ltd.) was added to the extract to make up to 2000 g, and adjusted to pH 6.2 with sodium bicarbonate to obtain a preparation. The prepared liquid was filled in a sealed container at 95 ° C., sterilized at 121 ° C. for 10 minutes, and a green tea beverage was obtained for sensory evaluation.

[Example 8]
After steaming 20 g of green tea leaves with saturated steam for 90 seconds, extraction with 1000 g of ion-exchanged water at 20 ° C. for 25 minutes and removing the green tea leaves by coarse filtration, followed by Nell filtration to obtain an extract to increase the extraction efficiency. confirmed. Thereafter, 0.8 g of ascorbic acid (BASF Takeda Vitamin Co., Ltd.) was added to the extract to make up to 2000 g, and adjusted to pH 6.2 with sodium bicarbonate to obtain a preparation. The prepared liquid was filled in a sealed container at 95 ° C., sterilized at 121 ° C. for 10 minutes, and a green tea beverage was obtained for sensory evaluation.

[Example 9]
After steaming 20 g of green tea leaves with saturated steam for 90 seconds, extraction with 1000 g of ion-exchanged water at 10 ° C. for 30 minutes and removing the green tea leaves by coarse filtration, followed by Nell filtration to obtain an extract to increase the extraction efficiency. confirmed. Thereafter, 0.8 g of ascorbic acid (BASF Takeda Vitamin Co., Ltd.) was added to the extract to make up to 2000 g, and adjusted to pH 6.2 with sodium bicarbonate to obtain a preparation. The prepared liquid was filled in a sealed container at 95 ° C., sterilized at 121 ° C. for 10 minutes, and a green tea beverage was obtained for sensory evaluation.

[Example 10]
After steaming 20 g of green tea leaves with saturated steam for 120 seconds, extraction with 1000 g of ion exchange water at 20 ° C. for 15 minutes and removing the green tea leaves by coarse filtration, followed by Nell filtration to obtain an extract to increase the extraction efficiency. confirmed. Thereafter, 0.8 g of ascorbic acid (BASF Takeda Vitamin Co., Ltd.) was added to the extract to make up to 2000 g, and adjusted to pH 6.2 with sodium bicarbonate to obtain a preparation. The prepared liquid was filled in a sealed container at 95 ° C., sterilized at 121 ° C. for 10 minutes, and a green tea beverage was obtained for sensory evaluation.

[Example 11]
After steaming 20 g of green tea leaves with saturated steam for 150 seconds, extraction with 1000 g of ion-exchanged water at 20 ° C. for 10 minutes and removing green tea leaves by coarse filtration, followed by Nell filtration to obtain an extract to increase the extraction efficiency. confirmed. Thereafter, 0.8 g of ascorbic acid (BASF Takeda Vitamin Co., Ltd.) was added to the extract to make up to 2000 g, and adjusted to pH 6.2 with sodium bicarbonate to obtain a preparation. The prepared liquid was filled in a sealed container at 95 ° C., sterilized at 121 ° C. for 10 minutes, and a green tea beverage was obtained for sensory evaluation.

[Example 12]
After steaming 20 g of green tea leaves with saturated steam for 180 seconds, extraction with 1000 g of ion-exchanged water at 10 ° C. for 30 minutes and removing the green tea leaves by coarse filtration, followed by Nell filtration to obtain an extract to increase the extraction efficiency. confirmed. Thereafter, 0.8 g of ascorbic acid (BASF Takeda Vitamin Co., Ltd.) was added to the extract to make up to 2000 g, and adjusted to pH 6.2 with sodium bicarbonate to obtain a preparation. The prepared liquid was filled in a sealed container at 95 ° C., sterilized at 121 ° C. for 10 minutes, and a green tea beverage was obtained for sensory evaluation.

[Example 13]
After steaming 20g of green tea leaves with saturated steam for 180 seconds, extracting with 35g of 1000g ion-exchanged water for 35 minutes and removing green tea leaves by coarse filtration, and then filtering the nell to obtain an extract to increase the extraction efficiency. confirmed. Thereafter, 0.8 g of ascorbic acid (BASF Takeda Vitamin Co., Ltd.) was added to the extract to make up to 2000 g, and adjusted to pH 6.2 with sodium bicarbonate to obtain a preparation. The prepared liquid was filled in a sealed container at 95 ° C., sterilized at 121 ° C. for 10 minutes, and a green tea beverage was obtained for sensory evaluation.

[Example 14]
After steaming 20 g of green tea leaves with saturated steam for 240 seconds, extraction with 1000 g of ion-exchanged water at 20 ° C. for 25 minutes and removing green tea leaves by coarse filtration, followed by Nell filtration to obtain an extract to increase the extraction efficiency. confirmed. Thereafter, 0.8 g of ascorbic acid (BASF Takeda Vitamin Co., Ltd.) was added to the extract to make up to 2000 g, and adjusted to pH 6.2 with sodium bicarbonate to obtain a preparation. The prepared liquid was filled in a sealed container at 95 ° C., sterilized at 121 ° C. for 10 minutes, and a green tea drink was obtained for sensory evaluation.

[Comparative Example 3]
20 g of green tea leaves were extracted with 1000 g of ion-exchanged water at 20 ° C. for 25 minutes and the green tea leaves were removed by coarse filtration, followed by flannel filtration to obtain an extract to confirm the extraction efficiency. Thereafter, 0.8 g of ascorbic acid (BASF Takeda Vitamin Co., Ltd.) was added to the extract to make up to 2000 g, and adjusted to pH 6.2 with sodium bicarbonate to obtain a preparation. The prepared liquid was filled in a sealed container at 95 ° C., sterilized at 121 ° C. for 10 minutes, and a green tea beverage was obtained for sensory evaluation.

[Comparative Example 4]
Extraction of 20 g of green tea leaves with 1000 g of ion-exchanged water at 10 ° C. for 30 minutes and removal of the green tea leaves by coarse filtration were carried out, followed by Nell filtration to obtain an extract to confirm the extraction efficiency. Thereafter, 0.8 g of ascorbic acid (BASF Takeda Vitamin Co., Ltd.) was added to the extract to make up to 2000 g, and adjusted to pH 6.2 with sodium bicarbonate to obtain a preparation. The prepared liquid was filled in a sealed container at 95 ° C., sterilized at 121 ° C. for 10 minutes, and a green tea beverage was obtained for sensory evaluation.

[Comparative Example 5]
After steaming 20 g of green tea leaves with saturated steam for 300 seconds, extract with 1000 g of ion exchange water at 20 ° C. for 15 minutes, remove the green tea leaves by coarse filtration, and then extract by filtration to obtain an extract. confirmed. Thereafter, 0.8 g of ascorbic acid (BASF Takeda Vitamin Co., Ltd.) was added to the extract to make up to 2000 g, and adjusted to pH 6.2 with sodium bicarbonate to obtain a preparation. The prepared liquid was filled in a sealed container at 95 ° C., sterilized at 121 ° C. for 10 minutes, and a green tea beverage was obtained for sensory evaluation.

[Comparative Example 6]
20 g of green tea leaves were extracted with 1000 g of ion-exchanged water at 50 ° C. for 5 minutes and the green tea leaves were removed by coarse filtration, followed by Nell filtration to obtain an extract to confirm the extraction efficiency. Thereafter, 0.8 g of ascorbic acid (BASF Takeda Vitamin Co., Ltd.) was added to the extract to make up to 2000 g, and adjusted to pH 6.2 with sodium bicarbonate to obtain a preparation. The prepared liquid was filled in a sealed container at 95 ° C., sterilized at 121 ° C. for 10 minutes, and a green tea beverage was obtained for sensory evaluation.

[Comparative Example 7]
20 g of green tea leaves were extracted with 1000 g of ion exchange water at 80 ° C. for 3 minutes, and after removing the green tea leaves by coarse filtration, an extract was obtained by Nell filtration to confirm the extraction efficiency. Thereafter, 0.8 g of ascorbic acid (BASF Takeda Vitamin Co., Ltd.) was added to the extract to make up to 2000 g, and adjusted to pH 6.2 with sodium bicarbonate to obtain a preparation. The prepared liquid was filled in a sealed container at 95 ° C., sterilized at 121 ° C. for 10 minutes, and a green tea beverage was obtained for sensory evaluation.

  The results are shown in Table 2.

表中、「抽出効率」の算出方法は以下の通りである。

In the table, the calculation method of “extraction efficiency” is as follows.

Extraction efficiency (%) = Extract volume (g) x Extract Bx ÷ Tea leaf consumption (g)
* Brix meter: Atago "Differential densitometer DD-7"
“Sensory evaluation” was conducted by five skilled examiners. Evaluation criteria are good (3 points), somewhat bad (2 points), and bad (1 point). If the average score of 5 people is 2.5 or more, ○, 1.5 to less than 2.5 In Table 2, it was indicated by Δ, and when it was less than 1.5, it was indicated by × and each is shown in Table 2.

  When the steaming time was 60 to 180 seconds, good sensory evaluation and comprehensive evaluation were obtained regardless of the extraction temperature (Examples 5 to 13). On the other hand, when the tea leaves were not steamed before performing the low temperature extraction, the extraction rate was low and the flavor was pale (Comparative Examples 3 and 4).

  Moreover, when the steaming time was 240 seconds, a heat deterioration odor began to be generated (Example 14). When the steaming time reaches 300 seconds, a strong steaming odor is generated (Comparative Example 5).

  High-temperature extraction at 50 ° C. or higher resulted in poor results (Comparative Examples 6 and 7).

Claims (5)

A process of bringing tea leaves into contact with saturated steam and promoting the opening of tea leaves in a low temperature extraction process;
Extracting the tea leaves subjected to the treatment with water at a low temperature to obtain an extract;
And a step of sterilizing the extract.   The method for producing a tea beverage according to claim 1, wherein the tea leaves are brought into contact with saturated steam for 10 to 240 seconds.   The method for producing a tea beverage according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the temperature of the water from which the tea leaves are extracted is less than 50 ° C.   The method for producing a tea beverage according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the time for extracting the tea leaves is 5 to 45 minutes.   A packaged tea beverage produced by the method according to any one of claims 1 to 4.