Tea, too: armed with the necessary processing, filling and distribution systems, dairies can make tea an ideal addition to the beverage line-up

Dairy Foods, Jan, 2003 by Donna Berry

When leaves from the Camellia sinensis plant blew into the pot of water Chinese Emperor Shen-Nung was boiling in 2737 BC, the beverage known today as tea was created. When the emperor drank the mixture, he declared that it gave him vigor of body, contentment of mind and determination of purpose, similar to claims still being made today by loyal tea consumers.

Indeed, through the centuries, many have found that they agreed with the emperor's assessment of tea. In fact tea is second only to water in worldwide consumption. It is consumed in a variety of forms: Hot, iced, spiced and flavored, as well as with or without sugar, honey, milk, cream or lemon. In the United States, more than three-fourths of all tea consumed is in the iced form, which just so happened to be invented by chance in 1904 at the Louisiana State Purchase Exposition in St. Louis, Mo. Accordingly, one day of the fair, the temperature was soaring and the staff in the Far East Tea House couldn't get fair-goers to sample their hot tea. So, they got inventive and poured it over ice cubes. The drink quickly became the exposition's most popular beverage.

Interestingly, there are around 3,000 varieties of tea, but they all come from that same evergreen plant--C. sinensis--identified by Shen-Nung. These many varieties of tea are classified by the manner in which the leaves are processed after plucking.

The most common form of tea in North America, to date, is black tea, which refers to freshly plucked leaves that are withered indoors on open-air shelves without any physical breaking of the leaf structure. After withering, the leaves are rolled, exposing the enzymes in the leaf to the atmosphere, allowing them to ferment. At a critical point, the fermenting tea leaves are fired at high heat to stop the fermentation process.

Green tea, which is projected by tea industry analysts to outsell black tea in the States by 2008, refers to plucked leaves that are not fermented. Rather, the leaves are steamed or otherwise heated immediately after plucking to prevent the fermentation that makes black tea. Then the leaves are rolled and dried.

Oolong tea is fermented only partially, to a point between black and green teas. While the leaves wilt naturally, enzymes begin to ferment them. Processors interrupt the fermentation by stirring the leaves in heated pans, then rolling and drying them.

Flavored and spiced teas are typically made from black tea. Flavors are usually sprayed on, whereas spices are included as bits and pieces. Herbal teas are not real tea, as they are not derived from the C. sinensis plant. Within the tea industry, herbal teas are classified at tisanes.

Recent research exploring the potential health attributes of tea indicates that all forms of tea may contribute positively to a healthy lifestyle.

"Fruits, vegetables and tea all contain important antioxidants. Research suggests these phytonutrients may contribute substantially to the promotion of health and the prevention of chronic disease. For example, recent research studies reveal the antioxidants in tea may inhibit the growth of cancer cells and support cardiovascular health," according to Jeffrey Blumberg, chief of the antioxidants research laboratory at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University, Boston.

This includes a new category of tea referred to as white tea. Like green tea, white tea is unfermented. White tea leaves are allowed to dry completely in the sun without any pan frying or steaming, resulting in a purer, natural state. During plucking, great care is given to the selection of leaves. Usually only the youngest leaves, which are still covered with down (short white hair), are used. The absence of withering, rolling and oxidation keeps the appearance of the leaves intact, and because the silvery down is still visible, leaves look white in color.

According to scientists at the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania, a specific brand of white tea solids was "off-the-charts" in terms of polyphenol content. Chemistry Professor Joe Vinson says, "[This brand of] white tea is almost twice as high as the average black tea."

It is the polyphenols in tea that are responsible for antioxidant activity. In fact, the pure catechins and phenolic acids found in tea were found to be more powerful than the antioxidant group of vitamins C, E and [beta]-carotene in an in vitro lipoprotein oxidation model.

Milk has its inherent nutritional and functional benefits, and so does tea, which further supports why tea is an ideal addition to a dairy's beverage line-up.

Tea's role with dairies

Right alongside milk, water, juices and fruit drinks, dairies have been offering iced tea beverages as part of their product line up since the 1960s.

"When we first approached dairies about manufacturing, packing and distributing iced tea, it was considered a very novel idea, and there were few players in the field," says Edward Reeves, president and founder of one of the country's founding tea ingredient suppliers to the dairy industry. "Today it is a big part of many of their businesses. And it makes sense. Dairies already have made the investment in filling and packaging equipment for milk; they have the knowledge of microbiological requirements; and they have the ability to deliver refrigerated products."