Black tea manufacture

US6299926A · kind A · utility

Assignee

• Unilever Patent Holdings B.V. · NL

Inventors

• Padma Balakrishnan · Bengaluru, IN
• Anitha Rao · Bengaluru, IN
• Navin Kumar Sharma · Bengaluru, IN

Key dates

• Filing date: May 2, 2000
• Grant date: Oct 9, 2001
• Expiry date: May 2, 2020

Classification

• Technology area (CPC A): Human Necessities
• CPC primary: A23F3/405
• WIPO field: Food chemistry
• WIPO sector: Chemistry

Abstract

A process for manufacturing black leaf tea with improved aroma. The process involves treating freshly plucked tea leaves with jasmonic acid or one of more derivatives thereof, macerating and fermenting the leaves, firing the fermented leaves to arrest fermentation and then drying them to yield black leaf tea. Treating the leaves in this way, preferably prior to a withering step, enhances aroma in the tea and infusions made from it.