In the global present tea-leaves market, the tea-leaves are usually packed as a bag/box which contains air to sell. Under such a condition, the quality of the tea leaves would decrease soon or later. The only way to prevent a decrease in the tea leaves is to use vacuum packaging. Unfortunately, this method is barely haven’t been used in the packaging process of the tea leaves in the global tea-leave manufacturers.
Most manufactures prefer to use tin foil to pack the tea leaves, so as to prevent the external air invade into the internal package. However, this method only could keep the freshness of the tea leaves to a certain degree. When time goes, the quality of the tea leaves still gets decreases. UPASI (United Planters’ Association of Southern India) especially makes acclaim that the tea leaves packed by vacuum machines have 15% more flavor than the tea leaves packed by other methods, after 3 months. If you still hold a suspicious attitude toward vacuum machines, the author would list two major reasons to illustrate the importance of vacuum machines for tea leaves.
The oxygen in the air would accelerate the oxidation reaction of every component in tea which affects the quality of the tea leaves. Therefore, the gas barrier property of the packing is the vital factor to keep the quality of the tea leaves. The vacuum packaging method could greatly keep the tea leaves away from the air.
The tea leaves have strong moisture absorption and moisture reversion. Therefore, moisture content should not exceed 5%. Otherwise, the ascorbic acid in tea is easy to decompose, and the tea polyphenols and lipids also get oxidized, which change the tea leaves in many aspects, such as taste, color, flavor, and so on. The tea leaves packed with tin foil have easy access to contact with the moisture in the air. This contact causes a decrease in the quality of the tea.
If the manufacturers don’t adopt the vacuum machine to pack the tea leaves. The tea leaves would be easy to get damp by the water vapor in the air. In addition, with the further action of the oxygen in the air, the quality of tea leaves is inevitably got decreases. Worse, the tea leaves also have a high possibility to produce harmful substances to the human body under mixed actions. By the way, vacuum packaging machines not only compress the volume of the packaging bags but also greatly reduce the packaging and transportation costs.
