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Metabolic profiling of flavor compounds in black teas with almond odor during processing

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Abstract

Wild black tea varieties with almond odors were found in Guangdong, China. Few previous studies have investigated their metabolic profile during processing. Herein, we assessed the variations in the chemical components including the volatile flavor compounds and nonvolatile flavor components during black tea processing. Benzaldehyde was responsible for the almond odor and could be used as an indicator for identifying black tea varieties with almond odors because of its relative stability. The contents of aromatic compounds with floral, sweet, and honey-like aromas, such as (E)-geraniol, phenylethyl alcohol, benzyl alcohol, β-ionone, α-terpineol, and (Z)-geraniol, were higher in the final drying process than they were in the plucking stage. However, the contents of β-linalool and its oxides and methyl salicylate tended to be lower in the dried black teas. PCA showed that 88.41% of the variation between the aromatic compounds and their odor attributes can be explained by PC1 and PC2. The almond flavor samples were differentiated from the control samples according to PCA. The contents of nonvolatile flavor components such as tea polyphenols, amino acids, soluble carbohydrates and caffeine were significantly lower in the dried black teas. The sensory evaluation suggested that XR black teas had strong and lasting almond odors, while DX-8 had floral and medicinal odors.

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Abbreviations

VFCs:

Volatile flavor compounds

HS-SPME:

Headspace solid-phase microextraction

GC–MS:

Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry

DVB/CAR/PDMS:

Divinylbenzene/Carboxen/Polydimethylsiloxane

PCA:

Principal Component Analysis

HPLC:

High-performance liquid chromatography

TIC:

Total ion chromatography

C:

Catechin

EC:

Epicatechin

GC:

Gallocatechin

EGCG:

Epigallocatechin gallate

EGC:

Epigallocatechin

GCG:

Gallocatechin gallate

ECG:

Epicatechin gallate

PPO:

Polyphenol oxidase

PO:

Peroxidase

TFs:

Theaflavins

TRs:

Thearubigins

TBs:

Theobromine

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Acknowledgements

The skillful technical assistance of Qianwen Zhang is gratefully acknowledged. AJE, who provided language editing services, is also acknowledged. We thank Letpub for its artwork assistance during the preparation of this manuscript.

Funding

The authors appreciate the funding supports from Key-Area Research and Development Program of Guangdong Province (2020B020220004), the China Agriculture Research System (CARS-19), Special Funds for Scientific Innovation Strategy Construction of High Level Academy of Agriculture Science (R2016YJ-YB3002, R2017PY-QY009, R2018QD-100), Science and Technology Program of Guangdong Province (2019B030316026), and Discipline Team Building Projects of Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences in the 13th Five-Year Period (201619TD).

Author information

Author notes

  1. Xiaohui Jiang and Dandan Qin are co-first authors and contributed equally to this study.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Tea Research Institute, Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Tea Plant Resources Innovation and Utilization, 6 Dafeng Road, Tianhe, Guangzhou, 510640, China

    Qiushuang Wang, Xiaohui Jiang, Dandan Qin, Shumei Liu, Hongjian Li, Kaixing Fang, Qing Wang, Bo Li, Chendong Pan, Dong Chen & Hualing Wu

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  1. Qiushuang Wang
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Contributions

Q-S Wang designed the experiments and collected the data with the help of S-M Liu, Q Wang, H-J Li, K-X Fang, B Li, and C-D Pan. All the authors participated in the analysis and interpretation of the data. Q-S Wang wrote the manuscript draft and revised it according to the feedback of H-L Wu, X-H Jiang, D Chen and D-D Qin. All the authors approved the final version of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Hualing Wu.

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Wang, Q., Jiang, X., Qin, D. et al. Metabolic profiling of flavor compounds in black teas with almond odor during processing. Eur Food Res Technol 246, 2039–2053 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00217-020-03554-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00217-020-03554-4

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