Studies on radical scavenging activity of tea leaves and effect of additives on activities of black tea liquor

Green tea is proved to be a source of various biochemicals, which projects tea to be a health drink. The study investigated free radical scavenging activity of leaf extracts of south Indian tea clones, individual catechin molecules and documented the influence of various additives on the scavenging activity of black tea infusion. Among the tea clones, UPASI-17 contained higher quantum of catechins. Lower content of catechins correlated with low 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl and hydroxyl scavenging activities. Low scavenging activity was noticed in gallocatechin. A wide variation was found in free radical scavenging activity of individual molecules, leaf extracts, tea liquor and its combination with the additives. Tea liquor along with lemon juice showed the highest free radical scavenging activity. When sugar and lemon juice were amended with tea liquor, free radical scavenging activity declined marginally. Addition of milk and sugar with tea liquor declined the free radical scavenging activity significantly.