ORGANIC TEA HAS MORE HEALTH BENEFIT AND ENVIRONMENTAL ADAPTABLITY THAN CONVENTIONAL TEA

Summary

Organic tea is booming in China since it is regarded as a high quality and healthy product. To confirm this believing, six pairs of organic and conventional teas from six farms in Zhejiang and Fujian Provinces, eastern China have been analyzed. The results show that organic teas had significantly higher tea polyphenols and water extracts compared to the conventional ones in most cases. Catechins, especially the epigallocatechin gallate, epicatechin gallate and epigallocatechin were significantly higher in organic tea. The concentrations of proline andγ-aminobutyric acid were also significantly higher in organic tea. However, the amino acids, particular theanine, aspartic acid and arginine were generally lower due to insufficient supply of mineral N in soils under organic management. These results could conclude that organic tea is more health benefit and environmental adaptable compared to its conventional counterpart.