Development of ready-to-drink tea with Lactobacillus plantarum Dad-13 based on the vulnerability aspects of the production process

Tea is one of the plantation crops which contributes to 3.27 of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Indonesia. As one of Indonesia’s export commodities, tea plays a big role in foreign exchange revenue. Among various kinds of processed tea drinks, 14.36 of tea consumers in Indonesia have a preference for consuming ready-to-drink (RTD) tea, implying its market potential in Indonesia. Furthermore, the increasing trend of healthy products resulted in the rise of the probiotic beverage market globally. Therefore, an RTD tea product with the addition of Lactobacillus plantarum Dad-13 has been developed, named ProbioTea. This study discusses the development of the ProbioTea product and vulnerability analysis of the two processes used: cold brew and hot brew. The study aimed to determine the level of vulnerability at each stage of ProbioTea manufacturing to reduce the risk of failure in large-scale production. This study also investigated antioxidant contents, cell viability, pH, and the visual appearance of ProbioTea. The result showed that the mixing and storage process has a high vulnerability to both cold and hot brew methods. The result of the assessment of risk vulnerability in the ProbioTea production process showed no risk with an extreme level of vulnerability. Thus, it indicated that the risk in the ProbioTea production process can be managed properly. The percentage of antioxidants in the cold brewing method was 51.25-71.76, while the hot brewing method shows 44.89-54.74. After storage, ProbioTea with the cold brew method experienced an increase in antioxidants because the low temperature was able to protect the bioactive compounds in tea. Meanwhile, there was no significant difference in the cell viability of ProbioTea processed on the cold and hot brew. After storage, the cell viability contained in ProbioTea was more than 6.8 CFU/mL. The acidity of ProbioTea processed in both cold and hot brew was not significantly different. This research concluded that the ProbioTea product is good. © 2023 The Authors.