Abstract
Tea aroma is one of the most important factors affecting the character and quality of tea. Here we describe the practical application of methyl jasmonate (MeJA) to improve the aroma quality of teas. The changes of selected metabolites during crucial tea processing steps, namely, withering, fixing and rolling, and fermentation, were analyzed. MeJA treatment of tea leaves (12, 24, 48, and 168 h) greatly promotes the aroma quality of green, oolong, and black tea products when comparing with untreated ones (0 h) and as confirmed by sensory evaluation. MeJA modulates the aroma profiles before, during, and after processing. Benzyl alcohol, benzaldehyde, 2-phenylethyl alcohol, phenylacetaldehyde, and trans-2-hexenal increased 1.07- to 3-fold in MeJA-treated fresh leaves and the first two maintained at a higher level in black tea and the last two in green tea. This correlates with a decrease in aromatic amino acids by more than twofold indicating a direct relation to tryptophan- and phenylalanine-derived volatiles. MeJA-treated oolong tea was characterized by a more pleasant aroma. Especially the terpenoids linalool and oxides, geraniol, and carvenol increased by more than twofold.
Highlights
Tea (Camellia sinensis L.) is one of the most traditional non-alcoholic beverages worldwide, which is consumed for its possible health benefits (Preedy, 2013), satisfactory aroma (Kenji and Masuda, 2002; Baldermann et al, 2014; Zheng et al, 2016), and taste (Han et al, 2016)
MeJA is known to Abbreviations: GABA, gamma-aminobutyric acid; Gas Chromatograph-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS), gas chromatography-mass spectrometry; MeJA, methyl jasmonate; PDMS, polydimethylsiloxane; SBSE, Stir bar sorptive extraction; VPBs, volatile phenylpropanoids/benzoids
The overall quality score of the MeJA-treated teas was mostly rated higher compared to the untreated control (0 h), except for the samples treated for 168 h and processed to green or black tea (Table 3)
Summary
Tea (Camellia sinensis L.) is one of the most traditional non-alcoholic beverages worldwide, which is consumed for its possible health benefits (Preedy, 2013), satisfactory aroma (Kenji and Masuda, 2002; Baldermann et al, 2014; Zheng et al, 2016), and taste (Han et al, 2016). While phenolic compounds are responsible for the taste, volatile compounds are fundamental for tea aroma (Yang et al, 2013; Baldermann et al, 2014). There are quite large variations among different kinds of tea in respect of their volatile compound concentrations and profiles. These variations are largely due to Camellia cultivar, region of origin, plucking season, soil, climate, as well as pre- and postharvest treatments (Chen et al, 2010; Lee et al, 2015). MeJA is known to Abbreviations: GABA, gamma-aminobutyric acid; GC-MS, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry; MeJA, methyl jasmonate; PDMS, polydimethylsiloxane; SBSE, Stir bar sorptive extraction; VPBs, volatile phenylpropanoids/benzoids
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