Tea Product Manufacturing via Fresh Leaf Juice Blending
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Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional tea manufacturing methods limit the customization of tea products' physico-chemical properties, flavor, and aroma, failing to meet consumer demands for enhanced infusion speed, color, and aroma, and restricting the choice of tea varieties and agronomy.
Innovation Solution
Combining tea juice expressed from fresh tea leaves with made tea, allowing for the manipulation of the tea's composition to achieve desired properties, such as increased water-soluble tea solids and unique flavor profiles without excessive bitterness, by blending the juice with leaf tea or tea solids.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If traditional tea manufacturing methods are used, then the manufacturing process is simple and well-established, but the physico-chemical properties of the tea product cannot be customized to meet consumer requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The tea manufacturing process is segmented into distinct stages: fresh leaf processing to extract juice, separate processing of leaf material, and final combination. This segmentation allows independent optimization of each component's properties before integration, enabling customization of physico-chemical characteristics without overwhelming complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies preliminary action by extracting and preserving tea juice from fresh leaves before the leaves are fully processed into made tea. This preliminary extraction allows the juice to be stored and combined later with made tea, enabling flexible customization of product properties while maintaining a relatively simple overall manufacturing process.
2Productivity
If tea juice is combined with made tea, then the infusion speed and consumer liking are improved, but the manufacturing process becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
Tea juice serves as an intermediary substance that bridges fresh leaf properties and made tea properties. By combining juice extracted from fresh leaves with made tea, the patent creates a product that exhibits enhanced infusion speed and consumer liking without requiring complete redesign of the manufacturing process.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent utilizes parameter changes by adjusting the ratio and concentration of tea juice to made tea in the final product. This allows optimization of infusion speed and flavor characteristics through simple compositional adjustment rather than complex process modification.
3Adaptability or versatility
If tea juice is combined with made tea, then the flavor profile and aroma are enhanced, but bitterness and negative attributes may increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by selectively combining tea juice with made tea in specific proportions to achieve desired flavor characteristics. Different regions or batches of juice can be combined with made tea in varying ratios to localize specific flavor properties while minimizing bitterness, allowing precise control over the final product's taste profile.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The process results in tea products with novel compositions that balance the properties of conventional made tea and tea juice, offering higher consumer liking and improved infusion speed, while minimizing negative attributes like bitterness.
Implementation Method 1
the juice is separated from the resulting moist leaves, as by mangling, pressing or extraction
Implementation Method 2
Fermentation refers to the oxidative and hydrolytic process that tea undergoes when certain endogenous enzymes and substrates are brought together
Implementation Method 3
Fermentation refers to the oxidative and hydrolytic process that tea undergoes
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed is a process for manufacturing a tea product. The process comprises the step of combining tea juice expressed from a first supply of fresh tea leaves with leaf tea from a second supply of fresh tea leaves and/or with tea solids extracted from the leaf tea.