In the world of fermented teas, the age of tea plants is a subject that burns the palate of tea lovers. Some of the leaves from old tea bushes have a strong and complex taste that is sometimes difficult to tolerate by the most delicate palates.
A molecular analysis of three different batches of leaves from centuries-old tea plants VS three batches of young (>100 years) organic cultures has detected 117 common compounds with differences in concentrations. This could already explain the complexity of “vintage” tea plants!
Polyphenolic compounds associated with aromatic strength, umami and bitterness are much more represented in the leaves of vintage tea plants than in young tea plants. The graphical representation of the aromatic wheel of the different lots is quite striking! (E for young lots, T for old lots).
The color of the infusion of the old tea leaves is also lighter, more orange than the younger batches (a fun fact to test at home!)
Two interesting facts were also reported: the bitterness is certainly stronger ... but it is not related to the level of caffeine (known to give bitterness) which is even lower in the young batches! Tests of the antioxidant potential of the leaves revealed that the old tea lots had at least 50% more antioxidant activity than the young tea lots!
More polyphenols, higher antioxidant activity, more aromatic richness, a little less caffeine, fans of gushu fermented tea and other denominations of tea plants several hundred years old will be delighted!
However, this is only one research article, which necessarily has its limitations, notably on the choice of batches (although coming from different areas, young: cake, old: bulk), the lack of information on the exact growing conditions. It would be interesting to consider them in other articles
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