ReviewProgress in the analysis of selected tea constituents over the past 20Â years

Modern chromatographic and hyphenated methods have driven a progress in the analysis of tea constituents. Mass spectrometric work using sophisticated techniques has opened a new game in thearubigin research in black tea and also in understanding the bioavailability and the metabolic fate of major compounds, especially catechins in green tea. The analytical tools are available now. Compositional data generated using the same extraction and the same validated methodology are still scarce. There are also not too many quantitative data around for e.g. flavonol glycosides, proanthocyanidins, and theaflavins.

► Recent progress in the analysis of tea constituents and their metabolites. ► Advances through modern chromatographic and hyphenated methods. ► High-resolution mass spectrometry in structural elucidation of thearubigins. ► Methods to determine catechins, theaflavins, flavone and flavonol glycosides. ► Requirement of enlarged databases and new approaches for authentication.