Is there a biochemist in the house?

Question

I recently read a surprising assertion about tea chemistry in aJapanese tea company's website.  (Sorry, I d- High levels of theanine are largely responsible for the "mellow"  taste of gyokuro and tencha as opposed to, say, sencha.- It's the shading of the tea bushes in the week or two before harvest  that keeps theanine levels high in gyokuro and tencha, because  sunlight causes the leaves to convert theanine into catechins.Is this plausible?  Do benzene rings get created that easily?  Maybethe metabolism in my own body does even more marvelous things beforebreakfast, but this really surprised me./Lew

Dog Ma 1 · Accepted Answer

[Lewis Perin]Not being a biochemist, I certainly find that part plausible. Anyone whodoesn't believe in the possible mellowing effect of amino acids and such onother flavors can try adding chicken or beef stock to almost anything else -effect can be surprising, taking the sharp edges off all sorts of flavors. Idon't cook much anymore, but used to use this with things likesweet-and-sour sauces. Dunno how it works, but sometimes magic is best leftmagical.Oh, aye. Enzymes can do almost anything easily, and sunlight has a lot ofenergy per photon. Besides, benzene rings are usually way downhill infree-energy terms from whatever gave rise to them. That kind of mechanism ispretty easily tested nowadays, so if it came from anything like a reputabletechnical journal (rather than speculation on some newsgroup), I'd beinclined to believe it.At least six, if of appropriate regality.-DM

Is there a biochemist in the house?

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