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What makes tea more delicious?

Good tea needs a balance of bitterness, astringency, and sweetness, plus the refreshing aftertaste. The major elements bring the taste to the tea are catechin, amino acid and caffeine. Especially the balance of catechin and amino acid is most important. Catechin is a family of polyphenols. Epicatechin and epigallocatechin has less astringency but has more bitterness. Galate type has more astringency, but refreshing aftertaste. Since gyokuro and matcha contain less catechin, they are less astringent. Since hojicha loose catechin during the high temperature process, the astringency in the taste becomes less. Amino acid controls the balance of bitterness and sweetness. There are 20 different kinds of amino acids included in green tea. Among them teanine covers 60% of the total amino acids and play important role of deciding the taste of tea. Caffeine has bitterness and released in the high temperature water. When the water temperature is hotter when tea is extracted, bitterness comes strong.