Research article A STUDY OF THE VARIABILITY OF CAFFEINE PROFILE OF PROCESSED BLACK TEA MARKETED IN CERTAIN REGIONS OF ASSAM WITH REFERENCE TO THE CAFFEINE CONTENT OF TENDER TEA LEAVES AND ORGANIC TEA.

The aim of this investigation was to go for an in-depth comparative study of the variability of caffeine profile of processed black CTC tea marketed in the Tezpur and Gohpur regions of Sonitpur district of Assam with reference to the caffeine content of tender tea leaves and handmade organic tea by Reverse Phase-High performance Liquid chromatography method. HPLC analysis of different processed CTC tea samples has shown that the caffeine content ranges from 2.21 to 3.05%.The average caffeine percentage in black tea samples analyzed was found to be 2.61%. HPLC analysis has also shown a negligible regional variation in caffeine percentage of the tea samples of Tezpur and Gohpur sub-divisions of the district. The caffeine content of dried tender tea leaves was found to be highest (3.07%) as expected while handmade organic black tea was found to contain 2.56 % caffeine. Variation in the average caffeine content of the processed CTC tea samples was due to a number of factors such as stages of leaves used for tea production, manufacturing processes adopted in the gardens in general and Jats and Clones of tea