Journal of Tea Science

The Development Process and Trend of Chinese Tea Comprehensive Processing Industry

LIU Zhonghua

Journal of Tea Science. 2019, 39(2): 115-122. doi:10.13305/j.cnki.jts.2019.02.001

Abstract ( 1622 )

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China is rich in tea resources. Under the background that the production of traditional tea is greater than the sales, the utilization rate of middle or low grade tea, summer and autumn tea resources are low, which affects the benefit level of tea industry. Comprehensive processing of tea is an important way to improve the utilization rate of tea resources and the scale and efficiency of tea industry. This paper systematically expounds the general situation of the international tea comprehensive processing industry, the development process and current situation of China′s tea comprehensive processing industry and technology, and analyzes the development trend of China′s tea comprehensive processing technology and products.

Formation and Development of Chinese Tea Sensory Terminology

ZHANG Yingbin, LIU Xu, LU Chengyin

Journal of Tea Science. 2019, 39(2): 123-130. doi:10.13305/j.cnki.jts.20190214.001

Abstract ( 880 )

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The standard (GB/T 14487 terms of tea sensory tests) established by exhaustive method is the abundant and representative sensory term set in food science. Tea sensory terminology was standardized and classified according to the formation rules of sensory terms. It represents tea sensory attributes objectively with distinctive Chinese traditional language features. The concept of ‘primitive morpheme’ of tea sensory terminology was put forward with a linguistics perspective. In GB/T 14487, four types of ‘primitive morpheme’ are included, which are nouns, adverbs, adjectives and verbs. Terms constituted by primitive morpheme are called monosyllabic term, and complex terms which can be divided into 8 types, which are the permutations by primitive morphemes. There are still some problems to be improved in sensory terms of tea.

Effect of Different Withering Light-wave Bands on Chlorophyll Fluorescence Parameter and Biochemical Quality of Black Tea

LUO Hongyu, TANG Min, ZHAI Xiuming, YANG Juan, LIU Xiang, GU Yu, YUAN Linying, ZHONG Yingfu, HUANG Shangjun

Journal of Tea Science. 2019, 39(2): 131-138. doi:10.13305/j.cnki.jts.2019.02.002

Abstract ( 813 )

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Based on the superiority of the light withering during tea processing, chlorophyll fluorescence parameters were used to reflect the inner mechanism of black tea during withering processing . The results show that, from 0 h to 8 h, NPQ and Y(NPQ) of tea leaves first increased and then decreased, while Y(Ⅱ) and qP exhibited opposite trends under all treatments, suggesting they had strong tolerance to stabilize the contents of tea polyphenol, amino acids, caffeine and soluble sugar. After that, NPQ, Y(Ⅱ), ETR and qP dropped gradually with the rise of Y(NO), indicating that the tolerant ability gradually weakened with the rise of amino acid contents. At the end of withering, NPQ, Y(NPQ), Y(NO), Fv/Fm and Fv/Fo of the control reached the lowest levels with the value of 1.874, 0.508, 0.267, 0.723 and 2.626 respectively, revealing the weakest tolerant ability. But under blue light treatment, tea leaves showed the strongest tolerant ability with the highest value of NPQ(2.120) and Y(NPQ)(0.567). Withered leaves showed stronger tolerant ability of red and yellow lights than the control. The amino acids content of yellow light treated leaves (2.58%) was the highest among all treatments. The amino acid content was significantly and negatively correlated with Fm, NPQ and Fv/Fm, but positively correlated with Y(NO). The sensory assessment show that the highest and lowest quality scores were found in the yellow light treated black tea sample (91) and the control (85).

Design and Experiment of the Temperature Control System of the Fuzzy RBF Neural Network PID in Tea Fixing Machine

PAN Yucheng, LIU Baoshun, HUANG Xianzhou, CHEN Xiaoli, LYU Xianyin

Journal of Tea Science. 2019, 39(2): 139-149. doi:10.13305/j.cnki.jts.2019.02.003

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Due to the characteristics of time-varying uncertainty and nonlinearity of the temperature control system of rotary fixing machine, the conventional PID control parameters are difficult to meet the control requirements. Based on the good convergence of fuzzy control, computing advantages of fuzzy quantity and the self-learning and -adapting characteristics of neural network, a PID control strategy combined PID control, fuzzy control and neural network was proposed to achieve real-time online tuning of PID parameters. The simulation and test results of MATLAB software show that the fuzzy-RBF neural network PID control had better dynamic and static characteristics and anti-jamming performance than the conventional PID control. The temperature control error was within ±2℃, which well met the temperature control requirements of the tea fixation process and ensured the quality.

Study on the Chemical Constituents of Hunan Black Tea

YIN Xia, ZHANG Shuguang, HUANG Jing, BAO Xiaocun, ZHOU Lingyun, DAI Dongwei, ZHAO Chenjie, HUANG Jian′an, LIU Zhonghua

Journal of Tea Science. 2019, 39(2): 150-158. doi:10.13305/j.cnki.jts.2019.02.004

Abstract ( 735 )

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In order to understand the characteristic taste chemicals of Hunan black tea, representative samples of Hunan black tea and typical samples from other provinces were selected. The taste and chemical constituents of black tea samples were evaluated by electronic tongue and high performance liquid chromatography. Visual pattern recognition method such as Principal component analysis (PCA) and partial least squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) were used to compare the characteristic chemical compositions of Hunan black tea in different tenderness grades and flavor types. The results show that: (1) The contents of water extraction, glucose, maltose, tea polyphenols, theabrownin, amino acid, delicious amino acid, theanine and theaflavins could be used as the main flavor components to distinguish Hunan black tea from other black tea as water extraction, glucose, maltose and theaflavins in Hunan black tea are significantly higher. (2) Most of the contents of taste components in the first grade of Hunan black tea soup were lower than those in other grades. Except for amino acids and thearubigins, other main flavor components were significantly lower than those of second grade tea. The contents of water extracts, tea polyphenols, caffeine, amino acids, theaflavins, thearubin were rich in the second grade tea soup. The contents of catechins, carbohydrates, theaflavins, thearubin and other compounds in the third grade tea was relatively high, while the contents of tea polyphenols, amino acids, thearubin and other compounds were relatively low. (3) The contents of caffeine, catechins, non-ester catechins, EGC and theaflavins in the “sweet and delicious” tea soup were significantly lower than those in the “slightly bitter (strong)” tea soup. The research results provided a reference for the classification and identification of Hunan black tea products and the evaluation of taste quality.

Effects of Nitrogen Form and Root-zone pH on Nutrient Uptake and Concentrations of Organic Anions in Tea Plants (Camellia sinensis)

TANG Dandan, LIU Meiya, ZHANG Qunfeng, SHI Yuanzhi, MA Lifeng, RUAN Jianyun

Journal of Tea Science. 2019, 39(2): 159-170. doi:10.13305/j.cnki.jts.2019.02.005

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In this study, effects of different nitrogen forms and root-zone pH on nutrient uptake and concentrations of organic anions were preliminarily confirmed in hydroponically cultured Camellia sinensis cv. Longjing 43 seedlings. The results show that tea plants supplied with NH₄⁺-N had higher concentrations of N, Fe and Cl^- in the mature leaves and N, SO₄^2-in the roots than those receiving nitrate (NO₃^--N). In contrast, tea plants receiving NH₄⁺-N had lower concentrations of Ca, Mg, B, Mn, Zn in the whole plant, SO₄^2-in the mature leaves and H₂PO₄^-in the roots than those were cultured with NO₃^--N. Tea plants treated with NO₃^--N had higher concentrations of malate, oxalate, citrate in the mature leaves than those grown with NH₄⁺-N or NH₄⁺-N+NO₃^--N. Root-zone pH significantly affected nutrient contents in tea plants, especially when it interacted with nitrogen forms. The contents of K, Ca, Mg in roots and B, Mn, Zn in whole plant at pH 6.0 were higher than those at pH 4.0. Simultaneously the concentrations of malate, oxalate,citrate in the mature leaves and oxalate in the roots were generally increased at pH 6.0. Otherwise, the content of total N had a significantly negative correlation with the concentrations of Ca, Mg, citrate, oxalate. Moreover, the concentrations of Zn²⁺, Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺, Mn²⁺ were positively correlated with citrate and oxalate.

Effects of Physiological Characteristics of Different Tea Cultivars under Drought Treatment and Evaluation on Their Drought Resistance

SHEN Siyan, XU Yanxia, MA Chunlei, CHEN Liang

Journal of Tea Science. 2019, 39(2): 171-180. doi:10.13305/j.cnki.jts.2019.02.006

Abstract ( 817 )

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In this study, two-year-old tea seedlings of four tea cultivars (Longjing 43, Zhuyeqi, Ningzhou 2 and Baiye 1) were used for natural drought test in pots. Their growth and adaptation under drought stress and after re-watering were determined. The effects of drought treatment on the physiological characteristics of different tea cultivars were evaluated, and their drought tolerances were comprehensively evaluated by subordinate function method. The results show that during drought treatment, soil volumetric water content of the four cultivars decreased gradually. Tea plants showed dehydration symptoms, with relative water content, superoxide dismutase activity, net photosynthetic rate and transpiration rate of leaves decreased, malondialdehyde, chlorophyll and carotenoid contents increased, the activities of peroxidase and catalase increased first and then decreased, water use efficiency increased first and then decreased. After re-watering, soil volumetric and relative water contents of four cultivars increased, whereas malondialdehyde content decreased. Peroxidase activities of tea cultivars decreased, except Longjing 43. The superoxide dismutase activities showed an opposite trend. Catalase activities of four cultivars decreased, but net photosynthetic rate was not significantly changed. Transpiration rate and water use efficiency increased. Except for Zhuyeqi, the amount of chlorophyll and carotenoids reduced. The drought resistance of four cultivars was comprehensively evaluated by subordinate function value, and the results show that Longjing 43>Ningzhou 2>Zhuyeqi>Baiye 1. This study provided a reference and theoretical basis for the screening of drought-tolerant tea cultivars and drought-resistant breeding.

The Transcriptome Analysis of Different Tea Cultivars in Response to the Spring Cold Spells

WANG Junya, CHEN Wei, LIU Dingding, CHEN Liang, YAO Mingzhe, MA Chunlei

Journal of Tea Science. 2019, 39(2): 181-192. doi:10.13305/j.cnki.jts.2019.02.007

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In order to explore the effect of freezing damage caused by spring cold spells on the transcription profiling of young shoots of different tea cultivars, transcriptome analysis of the frozen and unfrozen shoots was performed on tea cultivar ‘Longjing 43’ and ‘Zhongcha 126’ during the cold spells. A total of 1 012 and 1 079 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified in two cultivars with 284 DEGs overlapped. Then, eighteen DEGs were selected for Real-time quantitative PCR verification. The results were consistent with the transcriptome sequencing results, indicating that the transcriptome data was reliable. Utilizing the GO and KEGG pathway databases, the enriched pathways of the DEGs were identified, which included photosynthesis, carbon metabolism and cytochrome P450. This indicates that the cold spells cause serious damage to the basal metabolism related to the normal growth and development of young tea shoots and inhibit the expression of related genes. Subsequently, the expression cluster analysis of 284 overlapped DEGs showed that 99 DEGs exhibited the opposite expression patterns in two cultivars. The involved biological processes included MAPK signaling pathway, glutathione and phenylpropanoid metabolism. It was speculated that these DEGs were related to different signal transduction patterns in ‘Longjing 43’ and ‘Zhongcha 126’ in response to low temperature stress.

Advances in Brain Diseases Prevention and Treatment of L- theanine

ZENG Li, XIAO Wenjun

Journal of Tea Science. 2019, 39(2): 193-202. doi:10.13305/j.cnki.jts.2019.02.008

Abstract ( 692 )

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With the aging of the population and the growing pressure of social competition, brain-related neurodegenerative diseases and mental disorders increasingly affect our quality of life. L-theanine is a unique non-protein amino acid in tea. Numerous studies have shown that L-theanine has significant effects on the prevention and treatment of brain diseases. In this paper, the absorption and metabolism of L-theanine in the body and the research results in the prevention and treatment of brain diseases were summarized, which would provide a reference for the application of L-theanine and development of functional products.

Interaction between Tea Polyphenols and Polysaccharides: Progress in Research on Mechanism and Function

ZHU Lin, WU Long, CHEN Xiaoqiang, CHEN Xueling, WU Zhengqi, SHI Yong

Journal of Tea Science. 2019, 39(2): 203-210. doi:10.13305/j.cnki.jts.2019.02.010

Abstract ( 1363 )

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Tea polyphenols (TP) have various biological activities including anti-oxidation, anti-tumor, anti-cancer, anti-virus and the enhancement of non-specific immunity of human body. After combining with various polysaccharides such as cyclodextrin, black fungus polysaccharide or chitosan, some biological activities of TP can be strengthened. However, the mechanism of the interaction between TP and polysaccharides still remains unclear. Therefore, it is of great importance to explore the structure and interaction between TP and polysaccharides. Recently, an increasing number of researches were reported on the interaction between TP and polysaccharides. Generally, this review introduced the classification and structure of TP and polysaccharides, then summarized the types, influencing factors, research methods and function of interactions between TP and polysaccharides, which provided a reference for the subsequent study of the interaction between TP and polysaccharides with other active substances and changes in functional properties.

Effect of Liupao Tea on Levels of Short Chain Fatty Acids in Intestinal Tract of Rats with Hyperlipidemia

YE Ying, WEI Baoyao, TENG Jianwen, XIA Ning, HUANG Li, ZENG Sibin

Journal of Tea Science. 2019, 39(2): 211-219. doi:10.13305/j.cnki.jts.2019.02.011

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The objective of this work was to investigate the effect of Liupao tea on levels of short chain fatty acid (SCFs) in intestinal tract of rats with hyperlipidemia. Firstly, rats with hyperlipidemia were fed with different dosages of Liupao tea water extract (low dosage, 50 mg·kg^-1·d^-1, medium dosage, 100 mg·kg^-1·d^-1 and high dosage, 200 mg·kg^-1·d^-1) for 4 weeks, collected the feces samples. Secondly, the Liupao tea ethanol extracts were cultured with fecal of model blank group in vitro. Finally, SCFAs in feces or fermentation broth were determined by gaschromatography (GC). The results in vivo show that Liupao tea water extract significantly reduced the level of acetate and increased propionate and butyrate in the intestinal tract of rats with hyperlipidemia. Compared with green tea water extract, the effect of Liupao tea water extract on levels of SCFAs in the intestinal tract of rats with hyperlipidemia was stronger. The results in vitro show that the inhibition rate of Liupao tea ethanol extract to acetate, the promotion rates of Liupao tea ethanol extract to propionate and butyrate were 16.92%, 24.81% and 23.03% respectively. Among the 4 types of tea, Liupao tea had the greatest influence on levels of the short-chain fatty acids in the intestine, followed by puer tea, and raw liupao tea and green tea had the smallest impact. Different polar components of Liupao tea alcohol extract can inhibit the production of acetate, promote the productions of propionate and butyrate. However, the effect of 60% alcohol elution component on the production of SCFAs in the intestinal tract of rats was the greatest.

Analysis of the Determinants and Potential of China Tea Export to Countries along “the Belt and Road”

ZHANG Fei, JIANG Aiqin, YANG Fangqin

Journal of Tea Science. 2019, 39(2): 220-229. doi:10.13305/j.cnki.jts.2019.02.012

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By constructing an extended gravity equation model, using the 2001-2017 panel data, the influencing factors and trade potential of China tea exports to the countries along “the Belt and Road” were analyzed by the Poisson Pseudo Maximum Likelihood (PPML) approach. The results show that traditional variables as the economic scale and population of tea importing countries, China tea production, geographical distance between China and partners, common boarder and common language had significant impacts on China tea exports. The increase of tea production in China had an especially higher effect on tea exports to “the Belt and Road” regions. For China tea export potential, there were differences among the countries and regions along “the Belt and Road”．Among them, tea trades in some countries like ASEAN, South Asia, Central Asia and Eastern Europe were fully developed. While tea trades in Western Asia, North Africa and parts of Central and Eastern Europe were not fully developed. Finally, strategies including adjusting China tea export structure, China tea culture promotion, grasping the consumption dynamics in the target market and expanding China tea market in countries along “the Belt and Road” were proposed.

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