IOSR Journal of Environmental Science, Toxicology and Food Technology (IOSR-JESTFT) e-ISSN: 2319-2402,p- ISSN: 2319-2399.Volume 11, Issue 5 Ver. III (May. 2017), PP 74-80 www.iosrjournals.org DOI: 10.9790/2402-1105037480 www.iosrjournals.org 74 | Page Biochemical and Microbiological Characterization of White Tea Gargi Saha 1 , Sudeshna Shyam Choudhury 2 , Biswajit Bera 1 , P.Mohan Kumar 1 1 National Tea Research Foundation, Tea Board, Government of India, 14, B.T.M. Sarani, 9th Floor, Kolkata, India 2 Department of Microbiology, St. Xavier’s College, 30, Park Street, Kolkata, India Abstract: White tea is just made by drying only without any other normal fermentation process which is adopted for other tea varieties. The biochemical components like flavonoids, total polyphenols, tannins and catcehins are prominent in white tea. Catechin content is higher than tannin content. All those active components are higher in methanolic extracts than their corresponding aqueous extracts. The higher antioxidant activities are manifestations of all those active components. Higher antimicrobial property (inhibition of growth in liquid and solid medium against Gram positive and Gram negative organism) is a beneficial aspect of white tea regarding health concern. Moreover lowering of in vitro blood glucose level and inhibition of digestive enzymes ( amylase, -D Glucosidase, lipase) may attribute to the biomedical application of white tea. Key words: White tea, antimicrobial, antioxidant, digestive enzyme. I. Introduction White tea is an unfermented tea produced from young shoots of Camellia sinensis (Alcazar et al., 2007).It is non-fermented tea and usually protected from sunlight to avoid polyphenol degradation. It includes withering, piling, rolling and drying. In white tea epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) is the main active compound made from Camellia sinensis, followed by epigallocatechin (EGC; 3.25%), gallocatechin (GC; 1.28%), and catechin (C; 0.71%) which were also found in the extract (Teixeira et al.,2012). White tea is a rare variety, its particular post-harvest processing method raises small silvery hairs on the dried buds. White tea contains a higher proportion of the buds which are covered with fine ―silvery‖ hairs that impart a light white color to the tea (Karori et al., 2007). It is made by partial steaming and air-drying in natural sunlight. Karori et al., 2007 stated that green and white teas’ had significantly (p< 0.05) higher antioxidant activity compared to black tea. White tea is not rolled or crushed but it is steamed rapidly and air-dried to preserve most of the polyphenols. Sohle et al., 2009 had demonstrated that components of green tea are somewhat comparable to those of white tea. They had proposed that white Tea extract induces lipolytic activity and inhibits adipogenesis in human subcutaneous (pre)-adipocytes. White, green and black teas differ in their sensorial properties and have markedly different chemical compositions (Wang & Ho, 2009). White tea is a seasonal crop (spring) with special sensory and health benefits. White tea is lower in caffeine than green tea (Hilal and Engelhardt, 2007). According to them white tea has a higher anti-mutagenicity action compared to green tea. They had distinguished the biochemical characters from that of green, oolong and black tea. Unachukwu et al., 2010 had made in-depth chemical analysis of white tea types and conducted tests to quantify polyphenols and antioxidant potential of 8 commercially available white teas, and compared them with green tea. The manufacture, chemistry and health effects of White tea is elaborately stated by Jiang, 2008. Zhao et al., 2011 had identified, quantified and characterized the principal components of white tea. II. Material AND Methods  Tea samples: White tea samples were acquired from market (Mahabodhi Tea House, Rashbehari Avenue outlet, Kolkata). 500 mg tea leaves were taken for aqueous and methanolic extract preparation (in 10 ml volume). White Tea manufacturing process: Fresh tea leaves→ Withering→ Drying→ White tea  Measurement of tea colour: The tea colour was measured according to Goodner and Wampler, 2008— measured hue at 460nm wavelength.(Fig 1)  pH determination: pH of different solutions of tea were measured according to Saadeh et al, 2009. (Fig 2)  Moisture and ash content determination: Moisture content was measured by using hot air oven at temperature of 105°C by following the Anon., 2000 and ash content was measured according to Srilakshmi, 2003 by using muffle furnace at 500–600°C for 5–6 hrs. (Fig 3)  Thin layer chromatography: It was done according to Amarowicz et al., 2005 using silica as stationary phase and Vanillin-HCl as spraying agent (Fig 4)