the.com/catechin
The antioxidant in tea that makes bitterness feel like self-improvement.
means A natural plant compound (a flavonoid) found especially in tea leaves, cacao, and certain fruits, prized for its antioxidant properties.
from Named not from tea but from an older source: catechu, the astringent extract of the acacia tree Senegalia catechu, long used in Asia for tanning, dyeing, and chewing with betel. When chemists in the 1800s isolated the active astringent compound from catechu, they named it 'catechin' after its source. Only later was it discovered that tea leaves are rich in closely related compounds, which borrowed the same family name.
- found in
- green tea, cocoa, red wine, apples
- chemical family
- flavan-3-ol, a type of polyphenol
- heat sensitive
- degrades when tea is brewed too hot
- fun twist
- partly responsible for tea's mouth-drying astringency