Study probing weather impact on tea quality wins grant
A professor from Montana State University received a $931,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to investigate links between tea quality and changing weather conditions. The grand will fund research into how long-term changes in weather and precipitation patters may affect the healthfulness of tea crops. Preliminary research indicates that antioxidant content may decrease by as much as 50% with the onset of heavy rains, also called monsoons, in tea producing countries. The study will focus on samples from multiple locations in China to determine how eroding weather conditions impact the content of certain substances associated with health benefits of tea. An interdisciplinary team of researchers will be funded for four and a half years.