Amlan National High School- Senior High School Department

Ink out of tea (Camellia-sinensis)

In Partially requirement of the subject

Research Project

Prepared by:

Roxanne Gutib

Grade 12-Sapphire

Submitted to:

Mr. John Ivan Catacutan

Research Project Teacher

Background of the study

Tea is created by using the leaves of a plant known as Camellis sinensis. This plant is

native to mainland China, South and Southeast Asia, but it is today cultivated across the

world in tropical and subtropical regions. It is an evergreen shrub or small tree that is

usually trimmed to below 2 m (6.6 ft) when cultivated for its leaves. It has a strong taproot.

The flowers are yellow-white, 2.5-4 cm (0.98-1.6 in) in diameter, with 7 to 8 petals. Tea-

drinking can be traced back to the 10 th century BC in China before it was spread to Korea

and Japan. Basically, this drink is made by brewing tea leaves to create an extract. Due to

the chlorophylls and other pigments in the leaves, the extract commonly appears with a

brown color.
Review of Related Literature

The history of Chinese inks can be traced back to the 18 th century BC, with the

utilization of natural plant dyes, animal, and mineral inks based on such materials as

graphite that were ground with water and applied with ink brushes. The India ink used in

ancient India since at least the 4ath century BC was called masi, and was made of burnt

bones, tar, pitch, and other substances applied with sharp pointed needle . Saffron is well

known as the source of a truly brilliant if rather fugitive yellow and there is evidence of its

use, both as a colorant and medicine, in the Greek and Persian civilizations of the same

period. Indian skill in vegetable dyeing and painting reached a high point in the two

centuries from 1600 to 1800 AD, when the painting and resist dyeing of cotton cloth known

to us as Chintz became the basis of the largest trade in textiles that the world had ever seen.

The Strasbourg manuscript, of an earlier period, also describes the use of a whole

range of plants used in the manufacture of inks and water-colours. Later we see

developments in vegetable block-printing inks in 17 th and 18th century Japan where it is

interesting to note that some colours were actually leached from previously dyed cloth.

Early historical accounts of tea are unclear, for the Chinese character for tea had not been

standardized, and several other Chinese characters appear in books referring very likely to

the same plant, Camellia Sinensis, what we now call tea.

Tea dyeing is an easy way to mute fabrics or give them an older, antiqued look. Tea

stains the fibers and gives a semi-permanent dull brown “dirty” tone to the whole piece. It
is used when you want to “antique” a craft textile such as a doll dress or small quilt.

Griffiths uses the medium of tea and ink (sometimes graphite, vodka, whiskey, and others)

to create these pieces. Tea and ink as a medium has become a trademark for Griffiths in

the art world.

Research Questions:

1.Can vinegar strengthen the color of the product, ink?

2.Can cornstarch contribute to achieving the right consistency of the ink?

3. Are the processes boiling and straining efficient in taking the extract out of the tea bags?
Research Methodology

Like any plant, the tea plant (Camellia-sinensis) is composed of hundreds of different

compounds. Some of the most interesting ones fall into the category of polyphenols, so

called because of their molecular structure. These compounds, specifically a sub-category

called “tannins” are responsible for the dark colour you sometimes get in tea and they also

account for the possible health benefits of tea.

The tannins themselves are light coloured but when they react with iron they form dark

coloured complexes. Indeed, historically inks were made by extracting tannins from oak

trees and combining them with iron compounds. But where does the iron come from when

making tea? The water! Now, we are not talking about chunks of metal floating around, we

are talking about iron compounds dissolved in the water. This happens as water flows

through the ground which contains a variety of iron compounds. In different regions, tea

will be different colours, depending on the iron content of the water. Some water filter

manufacturers advertise the fact that water made with the filtered water will be lighter in

colour. This may be true but is of no real consequence. The filter removes iron from the

water so the complex with the polyphenols cannot form. And how about the lemon juice
connection? It turns out that the iron-polyphenol complex is not stable in acids and lemon

juice contains citric acid. So that is why the tea gets lighter when it is added.

Not everyone notices this colour effect. Some add milk to their tea and this of course

masks the colour. Then the question of whether or not this detracts from the health

benefits has to be addressed. In theory, the catechins, the beneficial compounds, can

complex with casein, a milk protein and therefore there has been some concern about what

the addition of milk to tea might do. But a Dutch study looked at human catechin

concentrations in the blood after drinking green tea, black tea and black tea with milk. The

study involved 12 people consuming 3 grams of tea a day (roughly 6 cups). Peak catechin

levels were found after 2.5 hours and there was no difference in levels with milk. Actually

the half-life for blood clearance was 4.8 hours for green tea, 6.9 for black and 8.6 for black

tea with milk. So if anything, the milk seems to help. Then of course there is the eternal

question of just how long you should brew the tea. That’s a hot emotional issue that I’m not

prepared to tackle. But I will leave you with one new development. Japanese researchers

are using tea bags to cure sick building syndrome. Tea bags scattered around the house

soak up formaldehyde aided by tannins in tea. In some cases, formaldehyde in the air fell

by 60-90%. See, I told you tea was healthy.

Plan of work and Time of Schedule

Title, Background and March 2, 2022

Rationale ,Research Questions

Research Methodology , Plan of work and March 10, 2022

Time of Schedule

Research Design, Bibliography March 16, 2022

Virtual Presentation of the Proposed March 22, 2022

Study

Gathering of Materials March 23,2022

Experimental and Procedures March 23,2022

Findings and Discussion of Results March 27, 2022

 Data Analysis April 1, 2022

Summary, Conclusion ,Recommendations April 5, 2022

Bibliography and Appendices April 5, 2022

Research design

This research is being done to find out the potency of the extract of the leaves from the

plant Camellis sinensis as an ink. Nowadays, ink is a pigment in a liquid or paste form used

as colorants and dyes. Also, they are becoming more and more expensive because of their

increasing purposes. Our research aims to produce this ink as a cheaper alternative to

those commercial ones. Compared to the ink we are aiming to create, commercially

produced inks are toxic and can be hazardous to a person’s health once there is a

inappropriate contact with it. To match with the color and consistency of other inks, we

will be adding other substances, specially vinegar and cornstarch, which are common and

easy to find.
Bibliography

https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/did-you-know/did-you-know-when-you-are-drinking-tea-

you-are-also-drinking-some-ink

Cannon, 1995 Ciba Review, 1938 Irwin and Brett,1970 Strange,1924

http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Ink-from-Tea

http://chemistry.about.com/b/2011/08/09/how-to- make-ink-easy-ink-recipes.htm

http://www.diylife.com/2008/06/27/remove-ink-with- tea-bags/

http://www.ehow.com/how_4493973_create-ink.html
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vinegar http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea_bag http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corn_starch

http://www.stinkyinkshop.co.uk/blog/a-short- history-of-ink/

http://ancienthistory.about.com/b/2004/09/27/th e-history-of-ink.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_tea http://www.chcp.org/tea.html