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magss

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My EE research question is "How does varying concentrations of CaCO3 affect the catechin levels of green tea", but I'm running into problems into how exactly to measure it. The basis for my question is to test how does varying mineral content of water affect the taste of tea, and in my research I found that CaCO3 was one of the minerals in water, and catechin is the main component of green tea which affects the bitterness and astringency (effectively taste).

I wanted to use spectroscopy but the maximum absorbance for catechin is around 270nm, which is far lower than the machine I have available to me, which only uses the visible light spectrum (around 400-700nm). I was thinking of switching to measuring the total polyphenolic content, but I'm sure that not every polyphenol contributes to taste. (For context, catechins are part of a larger class of compounds called polyphenols, which contribute to the antioxidant properties of tea) Furthermore, I'm not sure whether a reaction takes place between the two molecules. I know that changing CaCO3 concentration affects the taste, but I realised later that this could have been something detected by the receptors in the tongue, and doesn't necessarily indicate that there has been a reaction.

Should I change my question entirely, or simplify my question to, for example measuring how does adding acid (ascorbic, citric,..) in tea affect the total polyphenolic content? The deadline for the topic submission was 3 months ago and I have only 2 months to complete my experiments. I'm at a cross-road and I'm not sure how to proceed. 

Incase anyone is wondering how I got myself into this mess, when I was first searching for a topic I had found a way to find the quantity by titration, but what I didn't see was that that article had said "quantitative estimation", not "determination". After that I had been trying to find a feasible method, but only a few showed methods that were feasible with the equipment I have. So yeah, I would appreciate someone's help with my predicament.

Disclaimer: I’m only looking for advice. I won’t hold anyone accountable for what happens

Edited by magss
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