Physicochemical characteristics, sensory quality, and antioxidant properties of Paochung tea infusion brewed in cold water

Abstract

The health-maintaining effects of tea on the human body have been widely proven, even with the tea prepared by brewing tea leaves in cold water becoming a new choice other than hot water. In this research, quality and the antioxidant properties of the Pouchong tea infusions prepared with cold water and hot water were determined and explored their relationships under a consumer hedonic test. The results showed that the chemical components of cold tea infusions increased with increasing duration of brewing, and a maximal increment was observed during the first 2 h of brewing. All chemical components under investigation, except caffeine, were found to be higher in the cold tea infusions over 8 h as compared in the hot tea infusions. The antioxidant ability of cold tea infusion increased with increasing duration of brewing and approached the plateau after 12 hours. The chemical components showed a significantly positive correlation with the antioxidant activities (P < .01). Regarding the sensory analysis-consumer hedonic test, the cold tea infusions of 10, 12, and 14 h of brewing had the highest score in taste, the highest score in total acceptability, and the most popular in aroma, respectively.

Keywords

• pouchong tea
• cold tea infusion
• antioxidant properties
• sensory analysis