Green Tea Seed Oil (Camellia sinensis)
INCI Camellia Sinensis Seed Oil. CAS 68916-73-4, as CosIng gives it. Also: Green tea seed oil, Camellia sinensis seed oil, Tea seed oil (Camellia sinensis), Thea sinensis seed oil.
Published values
| Saponification value | 181–187 mg KOH/g |
| Used by the calculator | 184.0 mg KOH/g (midpoint) |
| SAP for NaOH | 0.1312 g/g |
| Iodine value | 86.6–91.9 g I₂/100 g |
| INS (SAP − IV) | 95 |
| Melting point | — |
| Unsaponifiable matter | — |
A bar made of 100 % Green Tea Seed Oil
Conventional qualities summed from the fatty-acid groups; a single-oil bar is a reference point, not a recipe.
How much lye
| Oil | NaOH | KOH |
|---|---|---|
| 500 g | 62.3 g(61.3–63.3) | 87.4 g(86.0–88.8) |
| 1 kg | 124.6 g(122.6–126.6) | 174.8 g(172.0–177.7) |
| 1 lb (454 g) | 56.5 g(55.6–57.4) | 79.3 g(78.0–80.6) |
| 2 lb (907 g) | 113.0 g(111.2–114.9) | 158.6 g(156.0–161.2) |
For this oil alone at 5 % superfat, with pure sodium hydroxide (NaOH) or pure potassium hydroxide (KOH); in brackets, across the published range of its saponification value. KOH is usually sold at 90 %: divide by 0.9. For a whole recipe, open the calculator.
Fatty-acid profile
Saturated : unsaturated 18 : 82
| Fatty acid | Published range, % | Used | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Myristic acid | C14:0 · saturated | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| Palmitic acid | C16:0 · saturated | 14.8–17.7 (typical 14.8) | 14.8 |
| Palmitoleic acid | C16:1 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| Stearic acid | C18:0 · saturated | 1.7–3.8 (typical 2.6) | 2.6 |
| Oleic acid | C18:1 | 52.9–58.4 (typical 58.4) | 58.4 |
| Linoleic acid | C18:2 | 22.3–24.7 (typical 22.3) | 22.3 |
| α-Linolenic acid | C18:3 n-3 | 0.2–0.3 (typical 0.2) | 0.2 |
| Arachidic acid | C20:0 · saturated | 0–0.7 | 0.4 |
| Gadoleic acid | C20:1 | 0.1–0.9 (typical 0.1) | 0.1 |
| Erucic acid | C22:1 | 0.7 | 0.7 |
| Lignoceric acid | C24:0 · saturated | 0.1 | 0.1 |
Where these numbers come from
PDF read. Table 1 'Some properties of Kenyan tea seed oil from different clones': the eight saponification and iodine values, and the control oils. Methods: SV by AOCS Cd 3-25 (about 5 g oil, 50 ml 0.5 M ethanolic KOH, 1 h reflux, back-titration with 0.5 M HCl); IV by Wijs per AOCS Cd 1-25. The source of the record's saponification and iodine values.
PDF read; Tables 1, 3 and 4 checked on the rendered pages. Table 4, C. sinensis column (n = 5): the record's typical fatty acids. Section 2.5: IV and SV calculated from the fatty-acid composition, so Table 3's 89.1 and 196.2 are not used.
Full text read from Europe PMC (PMC3233432). Section 3.1: seed of the Jiukeng variety, Panban tea garden, Zhejiang, collected December 2010. Table 3: fatty acids of the SC-CO2 and Soxhlet oils, used for the ranges.
Dataset #11351 (SOFA TAB_000340), 'Oil comparison of Camellia species of Japan and China' (1995): oil content 11.6 wt%, C16:0 15.7, C18:3 0.3, C18:2 24.7, C18:1 56.9, C18:0 1.7, C20:0 0.7 (total 100.0); used for the ranges. The plant's three other datasets, and those for Camellia sinensis (plants 11779 and 19093), were read and not used; see notes.
Abstract only; the paper is paywalled. Lahijan variety: 56 % oleic, 22 % linoleic, 0.3 % linolenic acid; saponification values of tea seed, sunflower and olive oil 'similar'. Cross-check in notes only; no figure from it enters the record's fields.
The fixed oil of the seeds of the tea plant, Camellia sinensis, the species whose leaves make green and black tea. WHICH OIL THIS IS: 'green tea seed oil' is a trade name, and 'tea seed oil' or 'tea oil' is also sold for the oil of the tea-oil camellia, Camellia oleifera, which is the camellia-oleifera-seed-oil record, while tsubaki oil (C. japonica) is camellia-seed-oil. The supplier's INCI name settles it: Camellia Sinensis Seed Oil is this record. The lye figure barely changes between them (all three are C16/C18 oils), but the soap does: this oil is about 58 % oleic and 22 % linoleic acid against about 80 % and 8 % for C. oleifera, so it makes a softer bar that keeps less well. SAPONIFICATION AND IODINE VALUES: George, Kinyanjui, Wanyoko, Moseti and Wachira 2013, Table 1, eight tea clones from the Tea Research Foundation of Kenya at Kericho, kernels extracted with hexane in a Soxhlet (crude oils): saponification value by AOCS Cd 3-25 187, 186, 182, 181, 186, 181, 181 and 186 mg KOH/g (TRFK91/1, TRFK301/3, TRFK301/4, TRFK301/5, GW-Ejulu, K-Purple, TRFK306, SFS150), iodine value (Wijs, AOCS Cd 1-25) 90.8, 86.6, 89.8, 91.4, 89.8, 91.3, 90.5 and 91.9. The same table measured the control oils at 190 (corn), 190 (sunflower) and 189 (soybean), inside their Codex ranges, so the method did not read low across the board. The profile below derives about 193 mg KOH/g, 3-7 % above the eight measurements; crude extracts carry unsaponifiable matter and whatever else the solvent takes from the kernel, which lowers a saponification value, and Sahari, Ataii and Hamedi 2004 (abstract) found the saponification value of Iranian tea seed oil similar to those of sunflower and olive oil, so a refined oil probably sits nearer the profile's figure. The measured band is used because it was measured; it errs towards less lye, which adds superfat rather than free alkali. The profile implies an iodine value of about 90 (AOCS Cd 1c-85 factors), inside the measured band. FATTY ACIDS: typical values are the means of Zeng and Endo 2019, Table 4, five commercial C. sinensis seed oils (three bought in Ganzhou, China: Puer, Yunnan; Hangzhou, Zhejiang, refined; Wuzhou, Guangxi, refined; two bought in Tokyo: from Ibaraki and Tochigi prefectures), mean +/- SD, %: C14:0 0.1 +/- 0.0, C16:0 14.8 +/- 1.5, C16:1 0.1 +/- 0.0, C18:0 2.6 +/- 0.4, C18:1 58.4 +/- 4.9, C18:2 22.3 +/- 3.9, C18:3 0.2 +/- 0.1, C20:0 not detected, C20:1 0.1 +/- 0.0, C22:1 0.7 +/- 0.2, C24:0 0.1 +/- 0.1, other 0.6 +/- 0.3 (that paper's own saponification value, 196.2, and iodine value, 89.1, were calculated from this composition, not titrated, so they are not used). Minimum and maximum are over those means and two further analyses: Wang, Sun, Chen, Qian and Xu 2011, Table 3, seed of the Jiukeng variety from the Panban tea garden, Zhejiang, extracted with supercritical CO2 and with a Soxhlet: C16:0 15.3 and 17.7, C18:0 3.3 and 3.8, C18:1 57.5 and 52.9, C18:2 22.3 and 24.2, C20:1 0.9 and 0.7 % (each also reports 0.7 % heptanoic acid, C7:0, which has no key, and 0.7 % other; no C18:3); and PlantFAdb's entry for Thea sinensis from 'Oil comparison of Camellia species of Japan and China' (1995, SOFA TAB_000340): C16:0 15.7, C18:0 1.7, C18:1 56.9, C18:2 24.7, C18:3 0.3, C20:0 0.7 %. Sahari et al. 2004 (Lahijan variety, Iran) report 56 % oleic, 22 % linoleic and 0.3 % linolenic acid, inside those ranges. NOT USED: PlantFAdb's other entries for Camellia sinensis and Thea sinensis, several of which give 76-87 % oleic acid, the composition of C. oleifera oil rather than of this one, while plant 19093's list carries datasets whose own titles concern other species (Camellia japonica, Camellia oleifera, Agastache rugosa, Lindera communis, Euonymus alatus). Sarmah and Das 2018 (Current Science 114(12):2549) report a specific gravity of 0.82-0.88 for eight Assam seed stocks, which no vegetable oil has, beside saponification values of 177.6-200.5; not used. The CyTA Journal of Food paper comparing C. hainanica and C. sinensis seed oils (2021, DOI 10.1080/19476337.2021.1879936) could not be opened (Cloudflare challenge). The INCI name and CAS number are CosIng's exact, active entry for Camellia Sinensis Seed Oil (substance ID 55226, 'the oil expressed from the seeds from the Tea, Camellia sinensis, Theaceae'), which gives no EC number; CosIng lists no saponified salt for it (Potassium Camelliate is defined from the generic Camellia Seed Oil).
A published figure for this oil was checked and rejected: see why.
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