EXTRACTION OF PHENOLIC COMPOUNDS FROM GREEN TEA USING ETHANOL

Ethanol was used as a solvent to extract phenolic compom1ds from dried fresh tea leaves (Camellia sinensis L. Kuntze). The extraction was performed at temperature of 40, 50, and 60°C which was maintained using a water bath. Folin-Ciocalteu's reagent was used to detennine the total phenolic content spectrophotometrically and gallic acid was used as the calibrant. The highest yield, which was 0.3347 g extract/g dry tea leaves, was obtained at extraction temperature 60°C and extraction time 240 minutes. 'While the lowest yield, which was 0.2807 g extract/g dry tea leaves, was obtained at temperature 40°C and 15 minutes extraction time.The value of total phenolic content obtained in this work is between 0.21-0.25 mg GAE/mg extract. The study also demonstrated that the extraction of tea leaves with ethanol at relatively low temperature exhibit considerable efficient method to obtain extract with relatively high total phenolic content.