Abstract
Tea is a highly popular beverage, primarily due to its unique flavor and aroma as well as its perceived health benefits. The impact of tea on the gut microbiome could be an important means by which tea exerts its health benefits since the link between the gut microbiome and health is strong. This review provided a discussion of the bioactive compounds in tea and the human gut microbiome and how the gut microbiome interacts with tea polyphenols. Importantly, studies were compiled on the impact of differently processed tea, which contains different polyphenol profiles, on the gut microbiota from in vivo animal feeding trials, in vitro human fecal fermentation experiments, and in vivo human feeding trials from 2004-2024. The results were discussed in terms of different tea types and how their impacts are related to or different from each other in these three study groups.