title: Pheophorbide a Content and Chlorophyllase Activity in Green Tea.
abstract: We investigated the total content of pheophorbide a (PB a), which is sum of the contents of newly produced PB a, including PB a initially present and that converted from chlorophyllide a (Chd a) by the chlorophyllase reaction during incubation, in green tea samples, and found that the total content of PB a markedly increased in both Sencha and Matcha, compared with the initially present PB a content in each. This result demonstrates that chlorophyllase activity still remains in green tea, even after processing fresh green leaves. A comparison of the total contents of PB a produced during the incubation of chlorophyll a (Chl a) with Sencha and fresh green leaf acetone powder indicates that the ratio of chlorophyllase activity in Sencha and in fresh green leaves was about 1:20.
authors.affiliation: a National Research Institute of Vegetables, Ornamental Plants and Tea (NIVOT).
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kohata
authors.affiliation: b Itochu Sugar Co. Ltd.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hanada
authors.affiliation: a National Research Institute of Vegetables, Ornamental Plants and Tea (NIVOT).
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yamauchi
authors.affiliation: a National Research Institute of Vegetables, Ornamental Plants and Tea (NIVOT).
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Horie
keywords: chlorophyll; chlorophyllase; chlorophyllide; green tea; pheophorbide a