Journal of Food Safety and Quality

Objective To use summer Baojing Huangjincha 1 straight black tea, jasmine flowers, and fresh Finger citron peel as raw materials, and the flower and fruit black tea with sweetness, fruitiness and tea flavor is made through processing. Methods In this study, the sensory evaluation of flower tea, high performance liquid chromatography and visible spectrophotometer were used to study the effects of kilning, drying, jacquard and other processes on the formation of the main taste substances and quality of black tea made from flowers and fruits. Results The taste intensity of floral-fruit-scented black tea showed significant differences (P<0.05) across various processing stages. During the scenting→drying→flower removal sequence, the taste characteristics exhibited dynamic evolution: Sourness and bitterness significantly intensified during scenting (P<0.05), while sweetness began transforming during drying and peaked at the flower removal stage. Key findings included: Tea polyphenols showed a “V”-shaped change pattern during processing, while free amino acids and soluble sugars accumulated continuously, enhancing umami and sweetness. Water extracts and flavonoids initially decreased before rebounding. Non-esterified catechins, gallic acid and caffeine decreased significantly in the final product, synergistically reducing astringency and bitterness. Total esterified catechin content decreased by 16.89% during scenting but partially recovered after drying and flower removal. Notably, gallocatechin gallate content increased remarkably by 55%, while epicatechin gallate showed an initial decrease followed by recovery. Sweetness-contributing amino acids (serine, threonine, alanine, proline and glycine) collectively increased by 9.40%, significantly enhancing tea sweetness. Total theaflavin content decreased significantly, with theaflavin-3-gallate, theaflavin-3’-gallate and theaflavin-3,3’-digallate decreasing by 25.69%, 27.28% and 6.02% respectively. Taste activity value analysis revealed decreasing trends for bitterness/astringency-related compounds including caffeine, gallic acid, ECG and catechins Conclusion In this study, the mixture of jasmine flowers and fresh fruit peel of Finger citron and the processing of Baojing Huangjincha 1 straight strip black tea in summer show that the taste of black tea made from flowers and fruits mainly showed the quality characteristics of “sweet and fruity”, and effectively improved the bitterness, astringency and sourness of summer black tea, which provided a theoretical basis for the brewing process of flower and fruit tea.

floral and fruity black tea; taste ingredients; jasmine; Finger citron; taste activity value