Multicomponent analysis of Korean green tea by means of disposable all-solid-state potentiometric electronic tongue microsystem

All-solid-state ‘electronic tongue’ microsystem comprised of polymeric sensors of different types such as highly cross-sensitive sensors based both on PVC and aromatic polyurethane (ArPU) matrices doped with various membrane active components, electrochemically deposited conductive films of polypyrrole (PPy) and polyaniline (PAn) and potentiometric glucose biosensors has been developed and applied for the analysis of beverages: natural coffee, black tea and different sorts of green teas. The system can discriminate different kinds of teas (black and green) and natural coffees. Components that are responsible for giving unique taste such as caffeine, catechines, sugar, amino acid l-arginine have been determined for green tea samples with unknown manufacturer specifications. © 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.