Influence of Location of Production, Season and Genotype on Caffeine and Flavan-3-ols in Young Green Tea (Camellia sinensis) Leaves in Kenya

Abstract

Although tea is grown in agro-ecological regions widely varying in environmental factors affecting yield and quality, planters usually import genetic materials across the different growing regions assuming genotypes with good quality attributes in one location maintain their status in all regions. However, tea quality has not been replicated in new production regions. Black tea quality is influenced by the green leaf quality precursors including caffeine, total polyphenols and individual flavan-3-ols which are precursors of theaflavins and thearubigins, key plain black tea quality parameters. Factors influencing levels of the precursors compounds have not been quantified for popular Kenyan tea cultivars. The influence of geographical production location and seasons on levels and ratios of the quality precursors for 10 black tea popular clones grown in three locations in Kenya under uniform agronomic inputs were …