Another thread to uncover the aging mystery of white tea: Focusing on the natural nanoparticles in tea infusion

Ruiyu Zhu; Zhen Chen; Helin Lv; Yani Pan; Xinyu Feng; Guicai Chen; Weilian Hu; Tianhua Xu; Fangyuan Fan; Shuying Gong; Ping Chen; Qiang Chu

doi:10.1016/j.foodchem.2023.136838

Another thread to uncover the aging mystery of white tea: Focusing on the natural nanoparticles in tea infusion

Food Chem. 2023 Dec 15:429:136838. doi: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2023.136838. Epub 2023 Jul 24.

Authors

Ruiyu Zhu¹, Zhen Chen², Helin Lv³, Yani Pan³, Xinyu Feng³, Guicai Chen², Weilian Hu², Tianhua Xu⁴, Fangyuan Fan³, Shuying Gong³, Ping Chen³, Qiang Chu⁵

Affiliations

¹ College of Biological and Chemical Engineering, Zhejiang University of Science and Technology, Hangzhou 310023, China; College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China.
² College of Biological and Chemical Engineering, Zhejiang University of Science and Technology, Hangzhou 310023, China.
³ Tea Research Institute, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China.
⁴ Zhejiang Esigma Biotechnology Co., Ltd, No.3, Chunchao Rd, Chang'an Town, Haining City 314422, China.
⁵ Tea Research Institute, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China. Electronic address: chuqiang@zju.edu.cn.

PMID: 37494755
DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2023.136838

Abstract

Aged white tea (WT) has promising medicinal potential, but how to accurately identify aged white tea is still a difficult problem. Inspired by tea cream, the relationship between the characteristics of nanoparticles in tea infusion and aging time was studied. The results showed that with the increase of aging time, the particle size of white tea nanoparticles (WTNs) decreased gradually. Microscopic images showed that the surface structure of WTNs was changed in three aspects: the waxy layer, the cuticle layer and the palisade tissue. Additional in vitro modeling demonstrated a strong correlation between nanoparticle size and protein and tea polyphenol content. The correlation between nanoparticle sizes and aging time was further verified in aged Pu'er raw tea. Starting with the tea infusion's nanoparticles, this study showed that the aging time of WT would impact the nanoparticles' properties, offering a unique way to determine the aging period of WT.

Keywords: Aging; Nanoparticles; Particle size; Polyphenols; Protein; White tea.

MeSH terms

Food
Nanoparticles*
Polyphenols / analysis
Tea* / chemistry

Substances

Tea
Polyphenols