| Abstract: | The ethylamine contents of tea shoots and made teas were derived with o-phthalaldehyde and 2-mercaptoethanol, and quantified by high performance liquid chromatography. The coefficient of variation of this method was 1.97% from eight analyses. The levels of ethylamine in tea shoots declined markedly during growth and senescence after plucking; they also declined in the extracts of fresh tea during the incubation at 37°C, but this decrease was completely inhibited by amine oxidase inhibitors. The content of ethylamine in high grade green teas was higher than in low grade teas, but was almost identical in high and low grade black tea. The mean contents of ethylamine in 22 green teas and 17 black teas were 6.76±3.07 μmol g?1 and 6.40±1.82 μmol g?1, respectively. |
