RESUMEN
The physicochemical, thermal and crystal properties of starches isolated from 3 different tea (Camellia sinensis (L.) O. Ktze) seeds were analyzed in this study. The shape of tea starch granules were flat spherical or oval shape, showed unimodal or bimodal distribution with average size of around 9⯵m. Tea starch was typical A-type starch. Apparent amylose contents of three tea seed starches ranged from 27.06% to 33.17%. The chains having degree of polymerization (DP) 13-24 were over 50% of the total detectable chains for tea amylopectin. Peak gelatinization temperature of tea starch ranged from 65 to 77⯰C and the water solubility reached up to 9.70%. The peak viscosity of tea starches were as high as 5300â¯cP and final viscosity ranged from 4000 to 6700â¯cP. The results indicated that tea seed starch had potential as gel reagents and provide some guides for comprehensive utilization of tea starch in food and non-food applications.