Beata Ulewicz-Magulska, Magdalena Jankowska, Marek Wesołowski

Rodzaje herbat i ich właściwości prozdrowotne
2017-01-10

Sorts of teas and their health-promoting properties

After water, tea is the most widely consumed drink in the world. It is an aromatic beverage produced from leaves and leaf buds harvested from Camellia sinensis evergreen shrub or small tree. Thus, the aim of this paper was to characterise short Camellia sinensis species, which is native to East Asia, the Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia. This paper includes the ways of tea processing and the chemical composition of tea with special attention to the biologically active substances, i.e., phenolic compounds, alkaloids, essential oils, proteins, amino acids, enzymes, vitamins and mineral constituents. Furthermore, the health-promoting properties of tea have also been characterised taking into account various sorts of this beverage (white, green, yellow, red and black teas) due to different degree of leaves and leaf buds fermentation.

Keywords: tea, manufacture, chemical composition, antioxidant properties

© Farm Pol, 2016, 72(11): 697–703