Fingerprint of volatile flavour constituents and antioxidant activities of teas from Thailand

Abstract

The volatile flavour components of different teas growing in Thailand were extracted using the simultaneous distillation and extraction (SDE) technique. These volatiles were investigated by GC–MS. At least 54 components representing 76.51–83.32% of all samples were identified. Hotrienol, geraniol and linalool were found to be the major components in Green Oolong tea. Green Assam tea contained linalool, geraniol and α-terpineol as the key flavour constituents. Chin Shin Oolong tea was dominated by linalool, indole and cis-jasmone whilst the major flavour volatiles of Chin Hsuan Oolong tea were trans-nerolidol, cis-jasmone and geraniol. Indole, geraniol and cis-jasmone were detected as the main constituents in Four Season tea. Change of quality and quantity of volatile flavour components was related to fermentation methods that increased volatiles were illustrated by the semi-fermented tea processing method. Green Assam tea infusion extract was evaluated to have the strongest antioxidant activities with the highest amount of phenol content followed by Four Season tea, Chin Shin Oolong tea, Chin Hsuan Oolong tea and Green Oolong tea, respectively.