Effect of chemical composition of black tea infusion on the color of milky tea.

Authors :: Mao YL
Wang JQ
Chen GS
Granato D
Zhang L
Fu YQ
Gao Y
Yin JF
Luo LX
Xu YQ
Source :: Food research international (Ottawa, Ont.) [Food Res Int] 2021 Jan; Vol. 139, pp. 109945. Date of Electronic Publication: 2020 Dec 05.
Publication Year :: 2021
Abstract: Milky tea is popular in many countries and its color is an important sensory property. The effects of black tea infusion on the color of milky tea prepared with non-dairy creamer were investigated. The results showed that the redder black tea infusion produced milky tea with more redness, and the color of milky tea was a pleasant pink when the a* value (redness indicator) was in the range of 6.0-7.0. Correlation analysis revealed that the respective theaflavins (TFs), thearubigins (TRs), thearubigins (TBs), (-)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) and chlorogenic acid contents significantly correlated with the a* values of milky tea. A series of complementary experiments were performed to elucidate that TFs and EGCG contributed to the redness of milky tea. The color formation was mainly associated with the binding of phenols to the proteins in the non-dairy creamer. These results contribute to understand the mechanism of color formation in milky tea.<br /> (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)