Antioxidant Evaluation and Composition Analysis of Extracts from Fuzhuan Brick Tea and Its Comparison with Two Instant Tea Products.

ABSTRACT

In this paper, the antioxidant capacities and compositions of two commercialized tea products and extracts from Fuzhuan brick tea (FBT) were investigated using three HPLC methods comparing the retention times of injected standards. Principal component analysis and DPPH-spiking HPLC analysis were used to analyze correlation between antioxidant capacity and the compounds detected to screen which compounds contribute to antioxidant activity. Results indicated that all samples contained high amounts of polysaccharides, phenols, and flavonoids and had good antioxidant activity and a high level of correlation among them. Furthermore, gallic acid, epigallocatechin, epicatechin, and epigallocatechin gallate were screened and found to be stronger antioxidant candidates. In summary, the quality of the FBT extracts was not inferior to that of commercialized tea products, suggesting the feasibility that extracts may directly act as instant tea products.