PHEOPHORBIDE-A CONTENT AND CHLOROPHYLLASE ACTIVITY IN GREEN TEA

We investigated the total content of pheophorbide a (PB a), which is s um of the contents of newly produced PB a, including PB a initially pr esent and that converted from chlorophyllide a (Chd a) by the chloroph yllase reaction during incubation, in green tea samples, and found tha t the total content of PB a markedly increased in both Sencha and Matc ha, compared with the initially present PB a content in each. This res ult demonstrates that chlorophyllase activity still remains in green t ea, even after professing fresh green leaves. A comparison of the tota l contents of PB a produced during the incubation of chlorophyll a (Ch l a) with Sencha and fresh green leaf acetone powder indicates that th e ratio of chlorophyllase activity in Sencha and in fresh green leaves was about 1:20.