Green Tea Extract Stabilization via Component Ratios
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Solution Overview
Problem
Green tea extracts undergo color changes and develop unpleasant tastes and flavors during storage, especially when not refrigerated, due to variations in water content, leading to issues like dry rough tongue and harshness.
Innovation Solution
A green tea extract composition is formulated with specific content ranges of non-polymer catechins, sugar, iron, caffeine, and gallic acid, along with controlled ratios and water content, to maintain flavor and prevent color changes and unpleasant tastes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If green tea extract is stored without freezing or refrigeration, then convenience of storage and distribution is improved, but color stability deteriorates and unpleasant tastes develop
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies parameter changes by precisely controlling the water content (10-20 mass%) and the ratios of key components (catechins, caffeine, sugar, gallic acid, iron) to stabilize the green tea extract composition. This allows the extract to maintain color stability and prevent unpleasant tastes during storage without requiring freezing or refrigeration, thus resolving the contradiction between storage convenience and color stability.
2Stability of the object's composition
If water content is reduced to prevent color changes, then color stability is improved, but unpleasant tastes and flavors increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent optimizes the water content parameter to a specific range (10-20 mass%) and adjusts the ratios of multiple components simultaneously. This balanced parameter optimization prevents color changes while avoiding the development of unpleasant tastes and flavors, resolving the contradiction between color stability and taste quality.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a composite composition by carefully balancing multiple components (catechins, caffeine, sugar, gallic acid, iron, and water) in specific ratios. This composite approach ensures that the interactions between components prevent both color changes and unpleasant tastes, resolving the contradiction effectively.
3Reliability
If high purity non-polymer catechins are used, then physiological effect is improved, but color changes and harshness increase during storage
Solution Approach 1:
The patent formulates a composite composition that includes high purity non-polymer catechins along with other components (caffeine, sugar, gallic acid, iron, and water) in specific ratios. This composite structure maintains the physiological effects of catechins while the interactions between components prevent color changes and harshness during storage, resolving the contradiction between efficacy and stability.
Data Source
AI summary
Provided is a green tea extract composition, including the following components (A), (B), (C), (D), and (E): (A) non-polymer catechins; (B) a sugar; (C) iron; (D) caffeine; and (E) gallic acid, in which a content of the non-polymer catechins (A) is from 25 mass % to 45 mass %; a content of the sugar (B) is from 4 mass % to 13 mass %; a mass ratio between the sugar (B) and the caffeine (D), [(D)/(B)], is from 0.2 to 0.8; a mass ratio between the gallic acid (E) and the iron (C), [(E)/(C)], is from 55 to 2,500; and (F) a water content is 10 mass % or less.