which reduced their extraction rate in cold water thus increasing the theanine concentration in the extract the cold water extraction is carried out with water at a temperature of from 1 to 50 u00b0 c for a time period of from 1 to 120 minutes preferably the temperature and duration are such that the product of the temperature in degrees celsius and the duration of the extraction in minutes cmins is from 30 to 1000 preferably from 100 to 500 the cold water extraction step may be carried out in a batchwise or continuous manner when run continuously the extraction time refers to the mean residence time of the tea leaf preferably the water is at a temperature of from 3 to 30 u00b0 c preferably from 5 to 20 u00b0 c preferably the extraction is for a time period of from 5 to 60 minutes or even from 10 to 45 minutes the extraction may be carried out in any suitable contacting equipment for example a stirred tank preferably the water to leaf weight ratio is from 5 1 to 50 1 more preferably from 10 1 to 30 1 following extraction the extract is preferably filtered to remove the leaves the liquor is then preferably centrifuged to remove any coarse material which manages to pass through the filter another preferential step is demineralisation of the liquor preferably the cold water extract is also demineralised by any suitable process known in the art the enriched extract will need to be concentrated because it normally comprises over.