Patent ID: 7763291

Claim:
A tea polyphenol composition having reduced bitterness and astringency, comprising: a plurality of at least seven distinct catechins, wherein the catechins are selected from the group consisting of EGCg, GCg, EC, C, EGC, GC, ECg, and Cg; wherein 85 wt % to 95 wt % of the tea polyphenol composition is comprised of the plurality of catechins; wherein at least 70 wt % of the tea polyphenol composition is comprised of EC, C, and EGCg together; wherein EC and C together account for at least 11% of the plurality of distinct catechins, and wherein the tea polyphenol composition is obtained by the process comprising the steps of: (a) subjecting tea leaves to extraction with hot water at a temperature of from 60° C. to 100° C. to form an aqueous extract; (b) cooling the aqueous extract to a temperature of 50° C. or lower and concentrating the cooled aqueous extract; (c) extracting the concentrated aqueous extract with an organic solvent, wherein the organic solvent is acetonitrile, methanol, ethanol, ethyl acetate, acetone, methyl ethyl ketone, methyl isobutly ketone, tetrahydrofuran, dioxane, or a mixture thereof to provide an organic solvent layer; (d) concentrating the organic solvent layer to provide a concentrated liquid and subsequently drying the concentrated liquid to obtain a crude tea extract; (e) dissolving the crude tea extract in a 5 to 15% aqueous methanol solution to provide an aqueous methanol extract and adding the aqueous methanol extract to a crosslinked styrenic synthetic adsorption resin, washing the synthetic adsorption resin with 5 to 15% aqueous methanol to wash out unadsorbed components; (f) eluting and recovering a tea catechin fraction with a 35 to 45% aqueous methanol solution, wherein the recovery of the tea catechin fraction starts at a time when the content of (−)-EGCg has reached a level twice or more as high as that of (−)-EGC and ends at a time when the content of (−)-EGCg has reached a level lower than that of (−)-ECg, or at a time when the content of caffeine becomes 5%; and (g) concentrating and drying the tea catechin fraction to provide the tea polyphenol composition.