Scientists in China’s tea hub claim to have brewed cheaper and healthier alternative protein from green tea residue
- Finding at Fuzhou University’s Institute of Food Science and Technology is ‘significant’ as it expands the range of raw materials used for alternative protein production, associate professor who led the research says
- Overall cost of tea leaf protein production is almost 50 per cent cheaper than the cost of alternative protein production using soybean, associate professor says
A team of scientists from Fuzhou University in China’s southern Fujian province – one of the country’s biggest tea-growing areas – claims to have developed a solution to extract protein from green tea residue.
The scientists received US$300,000 in grant funding from the Good Food Institute (GFI), a global alternative protein think tank, last year to further develop and commercialise their research. Upon completion, the researchers hope to introduce their invention to the consumer market as early as next year.
“What makes the research significant is that we expanded the categories of raw materials used for alternative protein production,” said Zhang Chen, an associate professor from Fuzhou University’s Institute of Food Science and Technology who led the research.
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The research is significant because it has the potential to diversify the alternative protein market, which widely uses soy or wheat as sources of proteins, for which Asia relies heavily on western imports, Zhang said. It is also more environmentally sustainable and economic as it elevates the value of millions of tonnes of tea waste that the world generates each year, he added.
According to Zhang, leaf proteins have been considered as an alternative source since the 1960s, but their wide application has so far been limited due to the low cost-efficiency of leaf protein production. Zhang, who has focused on leaf protein research since 2010, has developed a cost-effective way to extract protein from green tea leaves, by redefining the conditions of the alkaline used for protein extraction, and making it more eco-friendly by recycling the potassium salts generated throughout the process for use as fertiliser.
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The research used green tea residue gifted from a Fujian-based food company after the production of tea-flavoured lemonade. According to Zhang, a tonne of tea waste can generate around 400 kilograms of tea leaf protein, which is in the form of a brown-coloured powder with a strong tea flavour.
The overall cost of tea leaf protein production is around 2,000 to 3,000 yuan (US$435) per tonne, almost 50 per cent cheaper than the cost of alternative protein production using soybean, said Zhang. Compared with soybean-based protein, the protein generated from green tea residue is also lower in sugar and fat, and has a better combination of amino acids and a higher level of theophylline.
Due to the colour and taste of the tea-extracted protein, Zhang said tea-flavoured drink products would be a good scenario for the commercialisation of his invention. He also does not rule out the possibility that it can be used as a source for plant-based meat products with further improvements in his research.
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China is unsurprisingly the world’s biggest producer of tea, with a total tea leaves production of 3.18 million tonnes in 2022, or nearly half of the world’s total production, according to the China Tea Marketing Association.
Already in contact with local food companies in Fujian for commercialisation, Zhang expects the tea leaf protein sector to see strong growth in the next five to 10 years.
“The low costs of raw materials is an absolute advantage of tea leaf protein extraction,” he said. “Our solution makes better use of the tea industry supply chain and we are able to produce alternative proteins with higher cost efficiency.
“Tea residues shouldn’t be considered a waste.”
