DEAS 923: 2018  
ICS 67.160.10 
 
© EAC 2018                                                                                                                               First Edition 2018   
 DRAFT EAST AFRICAN STANDARD  
Instant tea — Specification  
EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY  DEAS 923: 2018  
ii © EAC 2018 – All rights reserved  
 Copyright notice  
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 DEAS 923: 2018  
© EAC 2018 – All rights reserved  iii 
 Foreword  
Development of the East African Standards has been necessitated by the need for harmonizing requirements 
governing quality of products and services in the East African Community. It is envisaged that through 
harmonized standardization, trade  barriers that are encountered when goods and services are exchanged 
within the Community will be removed.  
The Community has established an East African Standards Committee  (EASC)  mandated to develop and 
issue East African Standards  (EAS) . The Committee i s composed of representatives of the National 
Standards Bodies in Partner States, together with the representatives from the public and private sector 
organizations  in the community .  
East African Standards are developed through  Technical Committees that a re representative of key 
stakeholders including government, academia, consumer groups, private sector and other interested parties. 
Draft East African Standards are circulated to stakeholders through the National Standards Bodies in the 
Partner States. The  comments received are discussed and incorporated before finalization of standards, in 
accordance with the Principles and procedures for develop ment of East African Standards.  
East African Standards are subject to review, to keep pace with technological ad vances. Users of the East 
African Standards are therefore expected to ensure that they always have the latest versions of the standards 
they are implementing .  
The committee responsible  for this document is Technical Committee EASC/ 002, Coffee, Tea, Cocoa and 
Related products . 
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be subject of patent 
rights. EAC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.  
 DRAFT EAST AFRICAN STANDARD  DEAS 923: 2018  
 
© EAC 2018 – All rights  reserved  1 
 Instant tea — Specification  
1 Scope  
This Draft East African Standard specifies the requirements sampling and test methods for instant tea of the 
species Camellia sinensis (Linneaus) O. Kuntze.  
2 Normative references  
The following documents are referred to in the text in such a way that some o r all of their content constitutes 
requirements of this document.  For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For undated references, 
the latest edition of the referenced document (including any amendments) applies.  
EAS 38,  Labelling of Pre -packa ged foods  — General requirements  
ISO 7513,  Instant tea in solid form  — Determination of moisture content (loss in mass at 103 degrees C)  
ISO 7514,  Instant tea in solid form — Determination of total ash  
ISO 7516,  Instant tea in solid form — Sampling  
ISO 10727 , Tea and instant tea in solid form — Determination of caffeine content — Method using high -
performance liquid chromatography  
ISO 16649 -2, Microbiology of food and animal feeding stuffs — Horizontal method for the enumeration of 
glucuronidase -positive Es cherichia coli — Part 2: Colony -count technique at 44 °C using 5 -bromo -4-chloro -3-
indolyl -D-glucuronide  
ISO 21527 -2, Microbiology of food and animal feeding stuffs — Horizontal method for the enumeration of 
yeasts and moulds — Part 2: Colony count techniqu e in products with water activity less than or equal to 0.95  
3 Terms and definitions  
For the purposes of this document, the following terms and definitions apply.  
3.1 
Instant tea  
dried water dispersible solids obtained by acqueous extraction by an accepta ble process of the leaves, buds 
and stems and of materials derived therefrom, of those varieties of the species  Camellia sinensis (L.) Kuntze 
exclusively which are known to be suitable for making tea for consumption as a beverage, and the residue if 
any of  permitted process aids and permitted food additives  
3.2 
black tea  
Tea derived solely and exclusively, and produced by acceptable processes, notably withering, leaf 
maceration, aeration and drying  from leaves, buds and/or tender stems  of varieties of the species Camel lia 
sinensis  (L) O. Kuntze , known to be suitable for making tea for consumption as a beverage   
2 © EAC 2018 – All rights reserved  
 3.3 
foreign matter  
any material which is not of tea origin  e.g. sand , stones, metallic chips and any organic matter  
3.4 
extraneous matter  
any materia l which is not tea leaf, but of tea origin such as twigs, bark and stems  
3.5 
adulterant  
any materials that changes the original composition of a product, etc.  
3.6 
filth 
any material such as but not limited to dead insects, rodents and their derivatives  
4 Requirements  
4.1 Types of instant tea  
The product shall be classified in the following types:  
a) cold water soluble instant tea ; 
b) hot water soluble instant tea ; and  
c) green instant tea . 
4.2 General requirements  
Instant tea shall be:  
a) free from taint and have typical appearance;  
b) soluble in water;  
c) free from living insects, moulds,  filth and adulterants ; 
d) free from harmful substances; and  
e) free from foreign and extraneous matter  
NOTE  Instant tea may be flavoured in accordance with CAC/GL 66.  
4.2 Specific requirements  
The instant tea shall comply with the specific requirements specified in Table 1 when tested in accordance 
with test methods specified therein.   
© EAC 2018 – All rights reserved  3 
 Table 1 ▬ Specific requirements for instant tea  
S.N 
Parameter  Requirements  Test method  
i. i Moisture content on dry weight basis, 
m/m, %. 6.0 ISO 7513  
ii. i
i Caffeine on dry matter, m/m, % 8.0 ISO 10727  
iii. i
i
i Total ash on dry matter, m/m, % 40 ISO 7514  
5 Hygiene  
5.1 Instant tea shall be processed and handled in a hygienic manner in accordance with EAS 39.  
5.2 Instant tea shall comply with microbiological requirements specified in Table 2 when tested in 
accordance with test method stated therein.  
Table 2 — Microbiologica l limits for instant tea  
S/N micro -organism  Maximum limits  Test method  
i.  Yeasts and Moulds CFU/ g  104 ISO 21527 -2 
ii.  E. Coli, CFU/ g  Absent  ISO16649 -2 
6 Contaminants  
When tested in accordance with Annex A, the amount of iron filings in instant tea shall no t exceed 50 mg/kg . 
7 Pesticide residues  
Instant tea shall comply with the maximum residue limits established by the Codex Alimentarius Commission.  
8 Sampling  
Sampling shall be done in accordance with ISO 7516.  
9 Packaging  
The product shall be packaged in c losed, clean and dry materials which do not compromise the quality and safety of 
instant tea.  
10 Labelling  
In addition to the requirements specified in EAS 38, each package of the black tea shall be legibly and 
indelibly marked with the following:  
a) name of the product as “instant Tea’’;   
4 © EAC 2018 – All rights reserved  
 b) name and physical address  of the manufacturer/packer/ importer/ exporter;  
c) date of manufacture;  
d) best before;  
e) identification number  
f) net weight in g or kg;  
g) country of origin  
h) instruction for use and storage   
© EAC 2018 – All rights reserved  5 
 Annex  A 
(normative)  
 
Determination of iron filings  
A.1 Apparatus  
A.1.1  Magnet (at least 4000 gauss)  
A.1.2  Polythene sheet  
A.1.3  Petridish  
A.2 Procedure  
A.2.1  A known amount of (25 g) tea is spread evenly on a petridish  
A.2.2  A powerful magnet wrapped in polythene sheet is run over the sample repeatedly till no more iron 
filings cling to the magnet  
A.2.3  Collect the iron filings in a clean, dry and previously weighed petridish  
A.2.4  Note down and express the mass of iron filings as mg/kg  
A.3 Calculation  
 
Where;  
M1=Mass, in g, o f iron filings, and  
M2=mass, in g, of sample taken for the test. 
 DEAS 923: 2018    
 
© EAC 2018  – All rights reserved