Clonal plain black tea quality parameters responses of hard physical withered leaf to rehydration and fermentation durations
Abstract/ Overview
Hard physical withers in tea processing result in reduced plain black tea quality
parameters, but improve flavoury black tea quality. Chemical withers with minimal moisture
loss improve plain black tea quality parameters. But chemical withered leaf is normally bulky
and not flaccid thus reducing maceration rates. Hard physical withers reduce polyphenol
oxidase activity, thereby impairing ability of the leaf to produce high amounts of plain black
tea quality parameters, especially theaflavins and thearubigins. This study examined if
rehydrating hard physical withered leaf could improve its fermentability and influence
fermentation duration, and if such changes are cultivar dependent. Rehydrating hard
physical withered leaf increased (p≤ 0.05) total theaflavins, thearubigins, brightness, total
colour and sensory evaluation of resultant black teas. The patterns of the responses did …
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