The underlying logic of blending raw tea for bottled tea beverages

Bottled tea beverages are a type of soft drink developed and produced in the 1990s. After more than 30 years of development, bottled tea drinks have become the most dynamic and healthy beverage on the market, deeply loved by young consumers. This issue introduces the blending technology of bottled tea beverage raw material tea.

(1) Requirements for aroma and taste of raw tea

There are three types of raw tea blends used for bottled tea beverages:

• The first type is that the beverage company (customer) has already recognized and confirmed the tea samples provided by the supplier, and the supplier only needs to mix and blend them according to the blending ratio of the tea samples;
• The second type is when the beverage company (customer) provides standard tea samples to the tea supplier and provides relevant sample information, and the supplier only needs to conduct research and development according to the standard samples;
• The third scenario is that the beverage company (customer) does not provide standard samples of raw tea and only requests basic color, aroma, and taste of the raw tea. The supplier must conduct research and development of new raw tea products according to the requirements of the beverage company (customer).

In fact, the above three situations are all related to the core research and development content of tea suppliers and beverage companies, that is, how to develop bottled tea drinks that are popular in the beverage market and favored by consumers. Undoubtedly, one of the main features of the best-selling products in the domestic soft drink consumer market is that they are “delicious”. The judgment of whether a tea is “delicious” and “tasty” by tea suppliers and beverage companies’ new product development personnel is similar to the “tasty” judgment criteria of traditional tea brewed and consumed, but there are also certain differences.

To a certain extent, the judgment of new product development personnel in beverage companies represents the preferences of beverage consumers, while the judgment of traditional tea as “delicious” by tea companies represents the preferences of tea consumers, which are two different target consumers. Therefore, the new product development personnel of beverage companies must research and select suitable raw tea materials based on consumer market and consumer surveys, and develop tea beverage products that target consumers’ preferences.

The aroma and taste of raw tea are the two most important indicators that beverage company R&D personnel are concerned about. Taking green tea as an example, it is generally required that the raw tea has a strong and long-lasting aroma after brewing, with distinct characteristics such as tea aroma, variety aroma, regional aroma, and processing aroma. The taste of tea soup should be mellow, thick, smooth, not bitter, and not green. When tasting the flavor, it is necessary to determine the differences between the first, middle, and last stages of the taste after entering the mouth.

The tea evaluation method of beverage companies not only uses the traditional cup brewing method for tea evaluation, but also generally requires the use of extraction technology to extract the tea soup first. It is not only necessary to evaluate the aroma of hot tea soup, but also to evaluate the aroma of tea soup at room temperature or after refrigeration.

If raw tea is used to develop milk tea beverages, it is also necessary to add milk to the tea soup for evaluation, to determine the intensity, coordination, and persistence of the aroma after adding milk, as well as the smoothness, characteristics, and coordination of the taste.

If developing fruit tea beverages, it is necessary to add corresponding fruit juice, sugar, acidifiers and other auxiliary materials for evaluation, to determine the acidity, coordination and characteristics of the taste after adding auxiliary materials. If necessary, acid resistance, high temperature resistance, and low temperature resistance tests should also be conducted on the tea soup.

The blending technology of raw tea

Tea blending is aimed at producing tea raw materials that meet the requirements of beverage companies, especially in terms of aroma, taste indicators, as well as tea polyphenols and caffeine indicators. The second is to meet the demand of beverage companies for the quantity of raw tea supply. Because tea beverage companies have a very high demand for batches of raw tea, the demand for each bottled tea beverage product is usually several hundred to several thousand tons, and some best-selling products even reach a scale of tens of thousands of tons. To ensure the stable quality of products weighing hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands of tons, it is usually necessary to use blending technology to meet the requirements of beverage companies.

The blending technology of raw tea using green tea as an example

Taking green tea as an example, China has a wide coverage of tea regions and a rich variety of green tea types. Green tea can be divided into large leaf, medium leaf, and small leaf varieties according to different tea tree varieties; According to different initial processing methods, green tea can be divided into stir fried green tea, steamed green tea, baked green tea, sun dried green tea, and crushed green tea; According to the differences in initial and refined processing, it can be divided into raw tea and refined finished tea; Green tea can be classified into high, medium, and low-end types based on the age and tenderness of the fresh leaves used; According to the different seasons of harvesting and processing, it can be divided into spring tea, summer tea, autumn tea, etc; Green tea can be divided into different countries, provinces, and regions based on their place of origin.

Large leaf green tea has a high content of soluble solids in fresh leaves, including tea polyphenols, caffeine, amino acids, etc. After processing into green tea, the taste is strong and bitter, and the soup color is yellow green. The content of tea polyphenols and caffeine in small leaf green tea is usually lower than that in large leaf green tea. After processing into green tea, the taste is mellow, fresh, sweet, and the aroma is elegant and long-lasting. The quality of mid leaf seeds falls between the two.

Stir fried green tea is processed using stir frying and drying techniques, and therefore has the quality characteristics of strong and long-lasting aroma and strong taste. Dried green tea is made by hot air drying in a dryer, characterized by a fresh aroma and a mellow taste. Steamed green tea is processed by steam withering, and its biggest feature is its emerald green soup color, mellow taste, fresh and sweet aftertaste, and refreshing aroma.

Spring tea has a high content of amino acids, while the content of tea polyphenols and caffeine is relatively low. It has a rich and refreshing taste, and a strong and long-lasting aroma. Summer tea has a high content of tea polyphenols, a low content of amino acids, a bitter taste, and a poor aroma. Autumn tea is in the middle.

事实上，上述三种情况都与茶叶供应商和饮料公司的核心研发内容有关，即如何开发出在饮料市场上流行并受到消费者青睐的瓶装茶饮料。毫无疑问，国内软饮料消费市场上最畅销产品的主要特征之一就是“美味”。茶叶供应商和饮料公司新产品开发人员对茶叶是否“美味”和“可口”的判断与传统茶叶酿造和消费的“美味”判断标准相似，但也存在一定差异。