CONTENT OF VARIOUS ELEMENTS IN DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE TEA PLANT AND IN INFUSIONS OF BLACK TEA FROM SOUTHERN INDIA

Contents of various elements in dyferent parts of the tea plant (shoot, mature leaf, small stem, thick wood and root), black tea manufactured by the crush‐tear‐curl and orthodox processes, and tea brew after 1 and 5 min of infusion were determined by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry. From these, the amount of each element assimilated in the production of 1000 kg of marketable tea, as well as the quantity of each element brought into infusion and thus possib f y taken up through drinking tea, were calculated and discussed. Among the various elements assimilated by the tea plant, the shoot jraction (economically important for manufacturing commercial tea) contained high concentrations of N, P, K and Mg while the mature leaf accumulated Al, Bu, Ca, Cd, Mn, Pb and Sr. Of the dgerent elements brought into infusion while brewing black tea, the amount of K was found to be the largest (> 10000 μg g−1 tea) followed by P (700–1200 μg g−1), Mg (300–700 μg g−1), Ca and A1 (each 150–300 μg−1), Mn (60–150 μg g−1), Cu, Na, Si and Z n (each 6–50 μg g−1), B, Ba, Cr, Fe, Ni and Pb (each Id μg g−1), and Sr, Co and Gd (each <1μg g−1). The proportion of the totalamount of an element brought into infusion showed that the elements Ba, Ca, Fe and Sr were less soluble (<10 % of total amount), Al, B, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Mg, Mn, P, Pb, Si and Zn were moderately soluble (10–50 %), and K, Nu and Ni were highly soluble (>50%). The overall mean of the extent of solubility of all elements in 1 and 5 min showed that, out of the amount soluble in 5 min, about 68% was dissolved within 1 min. Copyright © 1990 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd