Identification of Key Aroma Compounds Responsible for the Floral Ascents of Green and Black Teas from Different Tea Cultivars

Abstract

Chemicals underlying the floral aroma of dry teas needs multi-dimensional investigations. Green, black, and freeze-dried tea samples were produced from five tea cultivars, and only ‘Chunyu2’ and ‘Jinguanyin’ dry teas had floral scents. ‘Chunyu2’ green tea contained the highest content of total volatiles (134.75 μg/g) among green tea samples, while ‘Jinguanyin’ black tea contained the highest content of total volatiles (1908.05 μg/g) among black tea samples. The principal component analysis study showed that ‘Chunyu2’ and ‘Jinguanyin’ green teas and ‘Chunyu2’ black tea were characterized by the abundant presence of certain alcohols with floral aroma, while ‘Jinguanyin’ black tea was discriminated due to the high levels of certain alcohols, esters, and aldehydes. A total of 27 shared volatiles were present in different tea samples, and the contents of 7 floral odorants in dry teas had correlations with those in fresh tea leaves (p < 0.05). Thus, the tea cultivar is crucial to the floral scent of dry tea, and these seven volatiles could be promising breeding indices.