Tea is processed from the postharvest tender leaves from tea plants (Camellia sinensis). Leaves containing more trichomes are considered to produce higher quality tea, but no evidence is available to support this opinion. In the present study, morphological and metabolic analyses of trichomes showed that tea trichomes were unicellular, simple, and rich in many water-soluble metabolites, including free catechins, caffeine, and amino acids. Furthermore, the analysis of known quality-related and non-targeted metabolites in fresh tea leaves and tea products showed that the presence of trichomes did not change the overall metabolite profiles of fresh tea leaves, white tea, and black tea, but might affect the non-targeted metabolites in green tea. Overall, more trichomes might only indicate higher quality tea leaves, while metabolites in the leaf might be the key factor. This study provides the first determination of the contribution of trichomes to tea quality.

茶是从茶树采收后的嫩叶（茶花）加工而成的。）。含有更多毛状体的叶子被认为可以生产出更高品质的茶，但是没有证据支持这种观点。在本研究中，对毛状体的形态和代谢分析表明，茶毛状体是单细胞的，简单的，并且富含许多水溶性代谢产物，包括游离儿茶素，咖啡因和氨基酸。此外，对鲜茶叶和茶产品中已知的质量相关和非目标代谢物的分析表明，毛线虫的存在不会改变鲜茶叶，白茶和红茶的整体代谢物谱，但可能会影响绿茶中的非靶向代谢物。总体而言，更多的毛状体可能仅表明茶叶质量较高，而叶片中的代谢产物可能是关键因素。