Correlation between sensory attributes and chemical components of black and green tea

The studywas conducted to analyse the correlation between the sensory attributes and chemical components of black and green tea. Different kinds of black and green tea were chosen to study the key factors in the tea quality. By sensory evaluation and correlation analysis on various quality factors (appearance, aroma, liquor color, taste and infused leaves), taste was determined as the key factor. Ten taste attributes (heavy flavor, thick flavor, sweet flavor, fresh flavor, mellow flavor, astringency, tenderness, stale flavor, purity and fired flavor) was determined to evaluate taste profiles by yardstick estimation method. The contents of the three main flavor substances (polyphenols, caffeine, theanine) were determined. By the differently significant analysis of ten taste attributes among various tea and the correlated analysis between flavor profiles and the three flavor components, the freshness and astringency were dominated by the contents of theanine and caffeine respectively, and were the main differences of various tea species. This study established a method for tea grading and quantitative analysis on tea sensory quality.