Short Cooking Time Increases, but Sucrose or Sweetener Counteracts the Radical Scavenging Activities of Tea Decoction as Compared to Tea Infusion

Short Cooking Time Increases, but Sucrose or Sweetener Counteracts the Radical Scavenging Activities of Tea Decoction as Compared to Tea Infusion

In contrast to tea infusion (TI), green and black tea decoctions (GTD, BTD) are prepared by cooking tealeaves in boiling water for a relatively long period of time and regularly consumed with sugar. Here, we contrasted the effect of cooking times and sucrose or sweetener “sucralose” on the total phenolic compounds (TPC) content and the potential radical scavenging activities (RSA) of GTD, BTD as compared to the usual TI or dry tealeaves extract. Results showed that GTD and BTD prepared for 15-min exhibited the highest TPC and RSA powerful than TI or GTD, BTD prepared for 30-min or 60-min. Conversely, the addition of sucrose or sucralose had reduced TPC concentration and significantly counteracted the RSA potential of tea extracts. Therefore, 15-min GTD or BTD without sugar showed to be more suitable to preserve the beneficial antioxidant properties of tea after cooking process.