Tea Dust — Added Colour vs Normal Brewing Colour

Why tea dust needs its own explanation

Tea dust is made of much smaller particles than whole leaves and can produce a strong brew quickly. Users can easily mistake a dark cup for evidence of added colour. FSSAI's relevant rapid screen does not judge cup darkness. It places the tea dust on filter paper and adds water drop by drop to watch for distinct colour streaks.

Use the pattern, not just intensity

Natural tea pigments can create brownish wet areas. The warning sign described in the rapid method is visible added colour diffusing as streaks. Kitchen Check should therefore ask whether colour travelled away from the tea in a clear artificial-looking pattern, not whether the centre simply became dark.

Do not use the slaked-lime variation by default

FSSAI's older detailed material also mentions a slaked-lime plate method. A water-and-paper method is simpler and safer for ordinary users, so Kitchen Check should use that as the default and avoid adding extra reagents unless a future FSSAI consumer protocol clearly requires them.

Do not compare brands by brew darkness

Different tea grades, leaf sizes and blends naturally produce different colour strengths. A darker cup is not automatically lower quality or adulterated. Kitchen Check should not rank brands based on how quickly their brewed colour develops.

Use fresh white paper on repeat

If the result is unclear, do not reuse wet stained paper. Start with a fresh piece and a new small sample. Reusing paper can carry colour from the first test and make the second look falsely positive. One clean repeat is enough.

Keep the main product dry

Do not pour water into the tea packet. Only the small test portion should be wetted. If official testing or a seller complaint follows, a dry uncontaminated sample and intact label are more useful than a packet that has been altered.

Recommended result wording

Use 'No distinct artificial-looking streaks seen', 'Tea dust releases colour quickly—result unclear', or 'Distinct added-colour-like streaks seen—screen suspicious'. Never conclude a named dye from this observation.

Use one clean repeat, not repeated brewing

If the paper pattern is unclear, repeat once with fresh dry tea dust and new white paper. Do not brew the same sample several times and judge how quickly the cup fades. That is a different question and can be influenced by tea grade and particle size. Kitchen Check should keep the rapid screen narrow and repeatable.

Do not score the stain by phone image

Camera exposure, white balance and room light can make a stain look more red or brown than it really is. A photo may be useful for documenting a complaint, but Kitchen Check should not assign a numerical adulteration score from the image. The rapid test remains a human visual screen with clear uncertainty labels.