Flavor improver for tea beverage and method for producing the same which can suppress or reduce the heating odor generated at the time of sterilizing tea beverage without affecting the flavor of tea beverage

An object of the present invention is to provide a flavor improver for tea beverage and a method for producing the same, which can suppress or reduce the heating odor generated at the time of sterilizing tea beverage without affecting the flavor of tea beverage. The solution of the present invention is to provide a flavor improver for tea beverage, which contains free fatty acid as an active ingredient. Furthermore, a method for producing a flavor improver for tea beverage comprises the steps of (a) making pectinase act on a tea raw material; (b) making lipase act on the tea raw material at the same time as or after the step (a); and (c) obtaining the tea extract from the tea raw material after the step (b). If the flavor improver for tea beverage is used, the flavor of the tea beverage will not be affected and the heating odor generated when the tea beverage is sterilized can be suppressed or reduced. The method for producing a flavor improver for tea beverage further comprises the steps of (d) allowing [bet