JP5000946B2 - Method for producing tea extracts - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for producing a tea extract with less bitterness and astringency by using invertase.

  In recent years, tea beverages typified by green tea, black tea, and oolong tea filled in cans and plastic bottles have gained high support from consumers for their convenience and health-consciousness, and production has been growing at a high rate. In particular, according to the recent trend, tea beverages having strong umami and richness and less astringency and bitterness are preferred.

  With regard to taste improvement using enzymes for teas, by making proteases act on tea ingredients, the proteins contained in tea ingredients are hydrolyzed to produce amino acids that are the basis of umami such as glutamic acid. There has been proposed a method of making it a tea extract having a strong umami taste and richness (Patent Documents 1 and 2). In addition, a method has been proposed in which glutaminase is allowed to act on a tea extract to convert the theanine contained in the tea extract into glutamic acid to increase the umami taste (Patent Documents 3 and 4). In addition, a method has also been proposed in which tea leaves are enzymatically extracted by combining enzymes such as cellulase and pectinase (Patent Document 5).

JP 2003-144049 A JP 2006-61125 A JP 2005-124500 A JP 2006-42625 A JP 2003-210110 A

  As for the taste improvement using enzymes for conventional teas, there are many things that focus on the umami and rich taste typified by amino acids such as the increase of free amino acids by protease and the increase of glutamic acid by glutaminase. The improvement was not enough. The present invention is to provide a method for producing a tea extract with less bitterness and astringency.

As a result of intensive studies to solve the above problems, the inventors of the present invention can obtain an extract suitable for drinking with less bitterness and astringency when invertase is allowed to act during and / or after extraction of tea ingredients. I found out.
Furthermore, when adding tea extract obtained by acting invertase to various foods and drinks, it has been found that it has the effect of enhancing the original flavor of teas without imparting bitterness and astringency. did.

  That is, this invention is a manufacturing method of the tea extract characterized by carrying out the enzymatic decomposition extraction process of the tea raw material using invertase. Specifically, the temperature range of 30-80 degreeC, 10 minutes-6 It is a method for producing the tea extract, characterized in that an enzymatic degradation extraction treatment is performed under conditions of time and pH 3.0 to 6.5, and the tea extract produced by the production method In addition, by adding the tea extract, it is a food or drink that does not give bitterness and astringency and has an enhanced original flavor of tea.

  The tea extract produced by the method for producing a tea extract of the present invention has no bitterness and astringency, and the sucrose contained in the tea ingredients is converted into glucose and fructose, so it has a strong umami and rich taste. is doing. Therefore, when the tea extract of the present invention is added to foods and drinks, it is possible to provide foods and drinks that do not impart bitterness and astringency and have an enhanced tea original flavor.

  Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in more detail.

(1) Tea materials The tea materials used in the present invention are buds, leaves, and stems of camellia tea tree (Camellia sinensis var.), Which can be used regardless of varieties and origins. Even if it is raw, it may be pretreated for beverages.
Tea pretreatment methods include non-fermentation, semi-fermentation, and post-fermentation, and any treatment method may be used. Non-fermented tea is green tea (sencha, gyokuro, kabusecha, bancha, tamago green tea, matcha, hojicha, kettle roasted tea, tencha, etc.) Pu-erh tea can be mentioned.
Moreover, you may add cereals, such as brown rice, and the leaf, stem, root, etc. of various plants as an auxiliary material as needed.

(2) Enzyme reaction Any invertase can be used as long as it has an activity of hydrolyzing sucrose into glucose and fructose. Specifically, filamentous fungi and bacteria having the ability to produce invertase can be cultured according to a standard method, and the obtained culture can be purified by a standard method. For example, commercially available invertase, for example, invertase “Sankyo” ( Sankyo Co., Ltd.), invertase (manufactured by Novo Nordisk Bio Industry Co., Ltd.), Maxinwelt L10000 (manufactured by Nippon Shibel Hegner), Sumiteam (registered trademark) INV (manufactured by Nippon Nippon Chemical Industry Co., Ltd.) and the like may be used. The amount of invertase used varies depending on the titer and the like, and examples thereof include a range of 0.01 to 1000 units / g based on the mass of the tea material. Treatment of invertase to tea raw material may be either during extraction of tea raw material or after extraction, and 5 to 200 parts by weight of water is added to 1 part by weight of tea raw material, Preferably under stirring conditions, usually in the temperature range of 30 to 80 ° C., particularly preferably in the range of 40 to 60 ° C., usually in the range of 10 minutes to 6 hours, particularly preferably in the range of 30 minutes to 2 hours, usually pH 3. Examples thereof include a method of acting under conditions of 0 to 6.5, particularly preferably pH 4.5 to 6.0. At this time, at least one enzyme selected from cellulase, hemicellulase, pectinase, protopectinase, protease, and tannase may be added together with invertase, and ascorbic acid or a salt thereof is added as an antioxidant. May be.

(3) Purification treatment The obtained extract deactivates the enzyme at 80 to 90 ° C. for 10 to 30 minutes, for example, and ends the extraction treatment. The tea extract of the present invention has little bitterness and astringency, so after removing insolubles, it can be added as it is to drinking or food and drink, but it can be concentrated by means such as vacuum distillation concentration, freeze concentration or membrane concentration. Can also be used. Furthermore, an extract with further reduced bitterness and astringency can be obtained by subjecting the extract to purification with a synthetic adsorbent.

  As the synthetic adsorbent used in the present invention, the base is a styrene polymer such as “Amberlite (registered trademark) XAD-16” (manufactured by Organo Corporation), or a styrene-divinylbenzene polymer such as “Diaion ( (Registered trademark) HP-20 "(manufactured by Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation), acrylic polymers such as" Diaion (registered trademark) WK-10 "(manufactured by Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation), methacrylic polymers such as" Diaion (registered trademark) " ) HP-2MG "(manufactured by Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation), acrylic ester polymers such as" Amberlite (registered trademark) XAD-7 "(manufactured by Organo Corporation), amide polymers such as" Amberlite (registered trademark) " XAD-11 "(manufactured by Organo Corporation), silicon dioxide type, such as" Siloput (registered trademark) " 02 "(manufactured by Fuji Silysia Chemical Co., Ltd.), dextran, such as" Sephadex (registered trademark) G-25 "(manufactured by Amersham Pharmacia Biotech), polyvinyl, such as" Diaion (registered trademark) FP-II "( Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation) can be used.

  In addition, the synthetic adsorbent treatment method in the present invention may be performed by a conventional method. For example, a method of feeding a tea extract at a constant flow rate to a synthetic adsorbent packed in a column, extraction, There is a method in which a synthetic adsorbent is added to an extract charged in a kettle and the synthetic adsorbent is separated after stirring for a certain period of time. There is no particular restriction on the method, and it can be selected according to the purpose.

(4) Formulation The tea extract obtained by the above method can be added to drinking or food and drink as it is, but it can also be used after pulverizing the extract by freeze-drying or the like. Furthermore, the extract can also be used by formulating as follows. Generally dissolved in a (mixed) solvent such as water, alcohol, glycerin, propylene glycol, triethyl citrate at a suitable concentration (specifically, water / ethanol, water / ethanol / glycerin, water / glycerin, etc. Or a dextrin, sucrose, pectin, chitin or the like can be added thereto. Furthermore, these can be concentrated to form a paste-like extract, and excipients (dextrin, etc.) can be added to the solution of various components and powdered by spray drying. Various dosage forms can be employed.

(5) Usage Since the tea extract of the present invention has little bitterness and astringency and enhanced umami, it can be used for drinking as it is. Moreover, if added to tea beverages, the umami of tea beverages can be enhanced. Furthermore, when added to foods and drinks other than tea beverages, umami can be imparted to foods and drinks along with the flavor of tea. The tea extract of the present invention can be appropriately added at the processing stage of food and drink, and the amount added varies depending on the degree of concentration of the tea extract, but generally 0.001 to 100 with respect to food and drink. An addition amount (as a solid component of the extract) of mass%, preferably 0.002 to 5 mass% is appropriate.

  The tea extract of the present invention can be used without particular limitation for various foods and drinks. For example, fruits or processed products thereof, vegetables or processed products thereof, seafood or processed products thereof, paste products, cooked foods, prepared vegetables, snacks, delicacies, processed foods, nutritional foods, tea drinks and coffee drinks Taste drinks, fruit juice drinks, carbonated drinks, soft drinks, functional drinks, alcoholic drinks, ice cream, confectionery such as sherbet, desserts such as jelly, pudding, sheep cane, cookies, cakes, chocolate, chewing gum, buns, etc. , Breads such as confectionery bread and bread, jams, ramunes, tablets and tablet confectionery.

In addition, soup stock of Japanese cuisine, such as bonito, seafood, kelp, shiitake, chicken, vegetables, etc., or soup stock of Western cuisine, eg, beef, chicken, pork, seafood, vegetables Soup and Chinese seasonings such as soup taken from soup stock and soy sauces such as seafood, or tang (hot water) of Chinese cuisine such as beef, chicken, pork, seafood, vegetables and the like.
Moreover, the tea extract of this invention can also enhance a flavor and a color tone by mix | blending a flavor component or a pigment | dye suitably. There is no restriction | limiting in particular in the flavor component or pigment | dye used for preparation, A well-known flavor component or pigment | dye is suitably mix | blended and used according to the objective.

  EXAMPLES The present invention will be specifically described below with reference to examples, but the present invention is not limited to the description of the examples.

[Green tea extract]
3000 g of hot water (ion exchange water) at 80 ° C. was added to 30 g of green tea leaves, extracted for 5 minutes, filtered through a 100 mesh sieve, and immediately cooled to 50 ° C. or lower to obtain 2800 g of green tea extract.

[Example 1]
0.01 g of Sumiteam INV (manufactured by Shin Nippon Chemical Industry Co., Ltd.) was added to 1000 g of green tea extract, and enzyme treatment was performed at 50 ° C. for 1 hour. After the enzyme treatment, the enzyme was deactivated by heating at 80 ° C. for 10 minutes, and then filtered to filter paper to obtain a clear green tea extract (present product 1).

[Comparative Example 1]
A green tea extract (Comparative product 1) was obtained by filtering the green tea extract with filter paper.

[Test Example 1]
Each green tea extract (invention product 1 and comparative product 1) obtained in Example 1 and Comparative Example 1 was subjected to sensory evaluation by 10 skilled panels. As the evaluation criteria, bitterness, astringency and umami were 7-level relative evaluations when the comparative product 1 was given 4 points. The results are shown in Table 1.

  From the above results, it was shown that the product 1 of the present invention is a green tea extract with reduced bitterness and astringency and enhanced umami.

[Oolong tea extract]
3000 g of hot water (ion exchange water) at 80 ° C. was added to 30 g of Oolong tea leaves, extracted for 5 minutes, filtered through a 100 mesh sieve, and immediately cooled to 50 ° C. or lower to obtain 2800 g of Oolong tea extract.

[Example 2]
0.01 g of Sumiteam INV (manufactured by Shin Nippon Chemical Industry Co., Ltd.) was added to 1000 g of oolong tea extract, and enzyme treatment was performed at 50 ° C. and pH 5.5 for 1 hour. After the enzyme treatment, the enzyme was inactivated by heating at 80 ° C. for 10 minutes, followed by filtration with a filter paper to obtain a clear Oolong tea extract (Product 2 of the present invention).

[Comparative Example 2]
A clear oolong tea extract (Comparative product 2) was obtained by filtering the oolong tea extract with filter paper.

[Test Example 2]
Each oolong tea extract (invention product 2 and comparative product 2) obtained in Example 2 and Comparative Example 2 was subjected to sensory evaluation by 10 skilled panels. As the evaluation criteria, bitterness, astringency and umami were 7-level relative evaluations when the comparative product 2 was given 4 points. The results are shown in Table 2.

  From the above results, it was shown that the product 2 of the present invention is an oolong tea extract with reduced bitterness and astringency and enhanced umami.

[Tea extract]
3000 g of hot water (ion exchange water) at 80 ° C. was added to 18 g of black tea leaf, extracted for 5 minutes, filtered through a 100 mesh sieve, and immediately cooled to 50 ° C. or lower to obtain 2800 g of black tea extract.

Example 3
0.01 g of Sumiteam INV (manufactured by Shin Nippon Chemical Industry Co., Ltd.) was added to 1000 g of black tea extract, and the enzyme treatment was performed at 50 ° C. for 1 hour. After the enzyme treatment, the enzyme was inactivated by heating at 80 ° C. for 10 minutes, and then filtered to filter paper to obtain a clear black tea extract (Product 3 of the present invention).

[Comparative Example 3]
The black tea extract was subjected to filter paper filtration to obtain a clear black tea extract (Comparative Product 3).

[Test Example 3]
For each black tea extract (invention product 3 and comparative product 3) obtained in Example 3 and Comparative Example 3, sensory evaluation was performed by 10 skilled panels. As the evaluation criteria, bitterness, astringency and umami were 7-level relative evaluation when the comparative product 3 was given 4 points. The results are shown in Table 3.

  From the above results, it was shown that the product 3 of the present invention is a black tea extract with reduced bitterness and astringency and enhanced umami.

  By the production method in which invertase is allowed to act during and / or after the extraction of the tea raw material of the present invention, a tea extract with less bitterness and astringency and enhanced umami can be obtained.

Claims (4)

Method of manufacturing a tea material 1 part by weight of water were added to the 5 to 200 parts by mass, tea extract, characterized in that the action of invertase after exiting extraction.   The method for producing a tea extract according to claim 1, wherein the enzymatic degradation extraction treatment is performed under a temperature range of 30 to 80 ° C, 10 minutes to 6 hours, and a pH of 3.0 to 6.5. .   A tea extract produced by the production method according to claim 1 or 2.   By adding the tea extract according to claim 3, a food or drink that does not give bitterness and astringency and enhances the original flavor of tea.