Biochemical constituents (precursors) in tea shoots responsible for quality and their effect on made teas in different regions of North Bengal

Abstract

North Bengal comprising of two tea producing regions Dooars and Terai besides Darjeeling, contributes significantly to total Indian annual production of made tea with its share of approx. 240 Mkg. To evaluate the quality aspect of made tea of these regions a systematic study on biochemical parameters was carried out. This investigation signifies that biochemical compositions present in tea shoots under North Bengal condition are suitable for producing tea with high quality. Total chlorophyll (CHt), chlorophyll a (CHa) and chlorophyll b (CHb) were found to vary significantly (at p less than 0.05) among the clones selected for this study. EC, ECG, EGC, EGCG and total catechin(TC) were found significantly different among the clones while catechin (C) has almost uniform distribution though their content are lower in comparison to Assam tea. All quality parameters of made teas such as TF, TR1, TR2, TR, BR, TC, TSS, CA content were higher in miniature factory (MP) manufacturing condition than manufacturing at garden factory (GF) except TPR So with some modifications in the key steps of manufacturing processes quality of made tea can be enhanced at GF level with desired appearance.