Characteristic flavor compounds in Guizhou green tea and the environmental factors influencing their formation: Investigation using stable isotopes, electronic nose, and headspace-gas chromatography ion migration spectrometry

Abstract

The Guizhou province is a significant contributor to the production of green tea within China. The present study aims to examine the characteristic flavor compounds found in Guizhou green tea and explore the environmental factors that contribute to the development of these unique flavor compounds. Accordingly, headspace-gas chromatography-ion mobility spectrometry (HS-GC-IMS) and electronic nose were employed in conjunction with odor activity value (OAV) analysis to develop an orthogonal projections to latent structures discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) model that was capable of discerning between the three distinct habitats (QE, QM, QW) of Guizhou green tea based on their flavor constituents. The findings show that the primary constituents contributing to the flavor profile of Guizhou green tea consisted of 3-methyl-2-butenal, butanal, pentanal, linalool, 6-methyl-5-hepten-2-one, dimethyl disulfide, and dimethyl sulfide. Subsequently, the stable isotope technique was employed to examine the growth environmental factors of Guizhou green tea, based on the identification of the flavoring compounds that differentiate green tea from various habitats within the Guizhou province. Accordingly, temperature and sunshine were found to have the greatest impact on the flavor compounds present in Guizhou green tea.