Green tea preparation and its influence on the content of bioactive compounds

The effect of different extraction conditions and storage time of prepared infusions on the content of bioactive compounds of green teas and their antioxidant capacity were investigated. The content of total phenols, total flavonoids and total non-flavonoids in green teas was determined spectrophotometrically, while 7 flavan-3-ols, 6 phenolic acids and 3 methylxanthines were identified and quantified by using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC–PDA). Among the tested green teas bagged green tea Twinings of London was recognized as the richest source of phenolic compounds (3585 mg/L GAE of total phenols). The most abundant phenolic constituents of green tea were flavan-3-ols, of which EGCG was prevailing in all teas (94.54–357.07 mg/L). The highest content of caffeine, as the most abundant methylxanthine, was determined in powdered green tea. The findings of this investigation suggest that extraction efficiency of studied bioactive compounds from green tea depends on the extraction conditions and that maximum extraction efficiency is achieved during aqueous extraction at 80 °C, for 5′ (powder), 15′ (bagged) and 30′ (loose leaf). In order to determine the antioxidant capacity of teas the DPPH, ABTS and FRAP assays were applied. Regardless of the extraction conditions all green teas exhibited significant antioxidant capacity in vitro, which was in correlation with their phenolic content, confirming that green tea is one of the best dietary sources of antioxidants.