Instant Oolong Tea
Instant oolong tea is a soluble powder made by extracting oolong leaf, the partially oxidised tea of Camellia sinensis, then clarifying, concentrating and drying the liquor. Oolong sits between green and black tea in oxidation level, typically 20 to 60 percent, and the instant powder inherits that intermediate chemistry: fewer intact catechins than green tea, but far more than a black tea, alongside the partially polymerised theaflavins and thearubigins formed during oxidation.
What gives the product its character is the combination of that oxidation level with the roast the base tea has received. Lightly fired oolongs carry floral and creamy notes from linalool, geraniol and their oxides; heavily roasted oolongs carry the pyrazines, furans and caramel notes generated during firing. Both survive into the extract only if the aroma fraction is recovered separately, so the base tea style has to be chosen before extraction and cannot be corrected afterwards.
The powder ranges from light amber to deep reddish brown according to oxidation and roast, dissolves rapidly in hot water and, in the cold-soluble grades, in chilled water. Compared with instant green tea it is less prone to browning, because the more reactive catechins have already been partly consumed during oxidation, but it is more prone to tea cream haze, since the polymerised polyphenols complex readily with caffeine as the liquor cools. Managing that cream is the central formulation issue for bottled oolong.
We source bulk Instant Oolong Tea from top China manufacturers for our partners. The manufacturer is in Shaanxi. A smaller requirement can ship in a combined container with other ingredients.
Please send the grade you need, the volume and your destination port, and we will come back with a solution and a price.
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- Function
- Plant extract
Specifications
| Item | Specification |
|---|---|
| Source | Partially oxidised oolong leaf, Camellia sinensis |
| Appearance | Light amber to reddish brown fine powder |
| Solubility | Complete in water at 25°C within 60 seconds |
| Total Polyphenols | ≥ 25.0% |
| Caffeine | 4.0 to 8.0% |
| Moisture | ≤ 6.0% |
| Total Ash | ≤ 15.0% |
| Lead | ≤ 2.0 mg/kg |
| Arsenic | ≤ 1.0 mg/kg |
| Pesticide Residues | Complies with destination market limits |
| Total Plate Count | ≤ 1,000 cfu/g |
| Yeast and Mould | ≤ 50 cfu/g |
| E. coli | Negative in 1 g |
| Salmonella | Negative in 25 g |
Common Markets Grades
Grades are set first by the base tea, its oxidation level, its cultivar and its roast, and only then by the analytical figures. A light, floral instant oolong made from a green-style Tieguanyin and a dark instant oolong made from a heavily roasted Wuyi tea are different ingredients that share a name. Beyond that, powders are quoted on total polyphenols, usually 20 to 35 percent, on caffeine, on colour as an absorbance value at a defined dilution, and on solubility.
Cold water soluble grades are specified separately from hot-soluble grades because haze on cooling decides whether a powder can be used in a bottled iced tea, and clarified grades treated with tannase or by cold filtration are sold at a premium for that reason. Freeze dried grades sit above spray dried grades on aroma retention. Carrier content, generally maltodextrin, has to be declared since it dilutes the tea solids figure. Decaffeinated grades are made by supercritical carbon dioxide treatment or resin adsorption of the extract and are traded on residual caffeine.
Applications
- Ready to drink bottled and canned oolong tea, a very large category in East Asian markets and the main outlet for the powder
- Milk tea and bubble tea bases, where roasted oolong is one of the standard platforms alongside black and jasmine green
- Instant tea sachets, stick packs and vending powders
- Cold brew and unsweetened tea products, where the low astringency of roasted oolong suits long extraction
- Iced tea and fruit tea blends needing body without harshness
- Bakery and confectionery flavouring, where the roasted profile comes through as caramel
- Ice cream, mousse and dairy dessert applications
- Supplements and functional powders formulated on polyphenol content
- Savoury and seasoning applications drawing on the toasted character of dark oolong
China Manufacturers of Instant Oolong Tea
Top Instant Oolong Tea manufacturers in China.
Company names and logos are the property of the manufacturers themselves. They are listed here because our own directory records them as producing this ingredient. A listing is not an endorsement by them, and we do not represent them or speak on their behalf.
Regulatory Status
Instant oolong tea is a conventional food. In the United States tea and tea extracts have a long history of food use, instant tea is regulated as a food and imported tea is subject to inspection for purity and fitness, with pesticide residues controlled through tolerances set by the Environmental Protection Agency. Products sold as supplements on a polyphenol claim are dietary ingredients under the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act, manufactured under 21 CFR Part 111.
In the European Union tea and instant tea are conventional foods and are not novel foods. Regulation (EC) No 396/2005 sets pesticide maximum residue levels for tea as a dried commodity and applies them to the dry leaf rather than to the infusion, which makes residue compliance the most common practical barrier for imported oolong. Contaminant limits apply under the contaminants Regulation, and where the base tea has been charcoal roasted, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon levels are a genuine test point because the leaf has been in contact with combustion products. Codex maintains general contaminant standards and a code of hygienic practice for tea, and the international trade relies on the ISO standard for oolong tea and on the ISO methods for water extract and total polyphenol determination.
Manufacturing Process
The base oolong is manufactured first by the conventional route of withering, shaking to bruise the leaf edge, partial enzymatic oxidation, fixing in a hot drum to denature the oxidase, rolling and drying, followed by firing to the intended roast level. Broken leaf and lower grades from that production are what generally feed the instant plant, since appearance is irrelevant once the leaf is extracted.
The leaf is extracted with hot water in countercurrent columns at 80 to 90 degrees Celsius, a higher temperature than green tea tolerates because the catechin fraction is already partly oxidised and less at risk. The first extract is passed through a vacuum stripping or spinning cone column to remove the volatile fraction, which is condensed and held cold. The stripped liquor is centrifuged and filtered to remove leaf fines, then chilled so that tea cream precipitates; the cream is removed for a bright cold-stable product, hydrolysed with tannase where cold solubility is required, or warmed back into solution for a hot-reconstitution grade. The clarified liquor is concentrated to 25 to 45 percent solids in a falling film or plate evaporator under vacuum, the aroma concentrate is blended back, and the concentrate is spray dried at a low inlet temperature or freeze dried for the top grade. The powder is agglomerated where instant dispersion is needed, screened, metal detected and packed into foil laminate with desiccant.
