CHEMISTRY

INVESTIGATORY
PROJECT

TOPIC
TESTING VARIOUS SAMPLES OF TEA TO DETECT THE
AMOUNT OF TANNIC ACID

Submitted by:

Siddhant Patil

Class – XI B

Roll No. – 1130B

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 CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that Siddhant Patil of class XI B, Roll
number 1130B has done the chemistry project entitled
“Testing various samples of tea to detect the amount
of tannic acid” himself and under my guidance during
the year 2019-20 in partial fulfillment of chemistry
practical examination.

Examiner Teacher in-charge

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to express my deep gratitude and sincere thanks

to the principal, Mrs. Veena Sahani for her encouragement
and all the faculties provided for this project work.
I would like to thank our teacher in-charge, Mrs. Ambili KG
for her guidance and supervision of her project. The
necessary information regarding the project provided by her
has been quite significant and very helpful for me in
completing the project.
I would also like to thank the Chemistry Lab Assistant, Mr.
Tangaraj for his valuable help during the project.
I would also like to express my sincere gratitude to my
parents for their support and encouragement throughout
the duration of the project.

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 INDEX

S No. CONTENTS PAGE No.

1. Aim and Introduction 5
2. Theory 6
3. Materials and apparatus required 7
4. Procedure 8
5. Result and its analysis 10
6. Conclusion 11
7. Procedure and Bibliography 12

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 AIM
Compare the tannic acid content of various samples of tea.

INTRODUCTION
Tea is made from the young leaves and buds of the tea plant.
Besides caffeine, tea leaves also contain tannic acid. The relative
amounts of these substances are different in different varieties
of tea leaves, because of which their tastes and flavors are
different. Tannic acid is a specific commercial form of tannin, a
type of polyphenol. Its weak acidity is due to the numerous
phenol groups in the structure. The chemical formula for
commercial tannic acid is C76H52O46 having molar mass 1,701.19
g/mol solubility in water: 2.85 g/cm3. The tea sample containing
the highest percentage of tannic acid gives better flavor. In fact,
it is a mixture of polygalloyl glucoses or polygalloyl quinic acid
esters with the number of galloyl moieties per molecule ranging
from 2 to 12 depending on the plant source used to extract the
tannic acid.

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 THEORY

The tannic acid present in the tea leaves is precipitated as

calcium tannate by the treatment of an aqueous solution of
tea with calcium carbonate. Calcium tannate is then
hydrolyzed with conc. HCl and recrystallized from water.

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 Materials and Apparatus required

 Beakers
 Conical flasks
 Funnel
 Heating arrangement
 Various samples of tea
 Calcium carbonate and
 Conc. HCl

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 PROCEDURE

1. Weigh 10g of each of the given samples of tea

2. Take 100ml of distilled water in a 400ml beaker and boil
it. Then add the first sample of tea leaves to it and boil
for 10 minutes. Cool and filter the solution.
3. To the filtrate add about 2g of solid calcium carbonate
and boil the contents. Tannic acid gets precipitated as
calcium tannate. Separate the precipitate of calcium
tannate by filtration.
4. Calcium tannate obtained is hydrolyzed by warming with
4-5ml of conc. HCl. The tannic acid obtained is
crystallized from water and weighed.
5. Repeat the steps 2, 3&4 with other samples of tea and
record the observations.

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 OBSERVATION TABLE
Brand name Weight of Weight of % of tannic
S of tea tea leaves tannic acid acid obtained
No. taken obtained = (y/x)100
= (x g) = (y g)
1. Organic India 10 g 273mg 2.73%
green tea
2. Red Label 10g 356mg 3.56%
3. TATA CTC 10g 370mg 3.70%

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 About Photos

 The photos on the previous page were clicked during the

experiment and in various stages of the experiment.

 The first three photos are of the stage where the tea is
boiled and filtered. The three photos refer to the different
samples of tea used in the experiment.

 The white powder kept in the 50ml beaker is the measured

amount of 2g calcium carbonate.

 The last two photos are of the heating stage.

 In this stage the tea filtrate is heated with conc. HCl.

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 FORMULA USED

Percentage tannic acid present in tea leaves is given by the

following formula:

Weight of tannic acid present in leaves (y grams) ÷ weight

of tea leaves taken (x grams) × 100

CALCULATIONS
1. Organic India green tea – Weight of tea leaves = 10g
Weight of tannic acid obtained = 273g
% of tannic acid obtained = 273 ÷ 100 = 2.73%
2. Red Label - Weight of tea leaves = 10g
Weight of tannic acid obtained = 356mg

% of tannic acid obtained = 356 ÷ 100 = 3.56%

3. TATA CTC – Weight of tea leaves = 10g

Weight of tannic acid obtained = 370g
% of tannic acid obtained = 370 ÷ 100 = 3.70%
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 RESULT AND ITS ANALYSIS

Result
The tea sample containing the higher percentage of tannic
acid gives better flavor.

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 CONCLUSION

Tea is made from the young tea leaves and buds of the tea
plant. Besides caffeine, tea leaves also contain tannic acid.
The relative amounts of tannic acid are different in different
varieties of tea leaves which is why their tastes are different.

The conclusion from the above experiment is:

The tea sample containing higher percentage of tannic acid
gives better flavor.

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 PRECAUTIONS AND BIBLIOGRAPHY

Precautions
1. The measurement of weight of tea sample and all
extract should be precise.
2. The water used should be distilled.
3. Apparatus should be clean and dry.
4. Always use test tube holder while adding concentrated
acid.
5. If acid makes contact with the skin, wash it with water
thoroughly.

Bibliography
 The main websites: -
1. https://www.google.co.in/
2. https://www.wikipedia.org/
3. https://www.scribd.com/

 Practical Chemistry Book.

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