Objective Effect of various methods of pressing white tea for cost savings in package, storage, and transportation on the sensory quality of the tea was evaluated.

Method One bud and 2-3 leaves were plucked from Fu’an Dabaicha, Fuding Dahaocha, Fuyun 6, and Fuyun 595 tea bushes to produce a conventional loose-leaf tea product as well as 3 compressed tea cakes. Methods of cold-pressing, fresh-pressing, and steam-pressing were applied for compacting the tea into cakes. Sensory quality and chemical composition of these products were compared.

Result After steeping the cold-pressed tea cake, the brewed tea was bright in color, strong in aroma, heavy in taste, and had soft, brilliant residue leaves which closely resembled the loose-leaf counterpart. The turbid, yellowish brewed steam-pressed tea was not as refreshing in taste and had dark residue leaves. And the brightly colored brewed fresh-pressed tea released a floral fragrance with a hint of fermentation note and had suspended leaves of mixed colors and slightly fragmented residues. The least difference on the sensory scores of 1.24 \pm 0.84 was between the brewed loose-leaf tea and the cold-pressed cakes (P<0.01), whereas it was 2.65 \pm 1.33 between the loose-leaf tea and the fresh-pressed cake and 5.25 \pm 1.27 between the loose-leaf tea and the steam-pressed cake.

Objective Cold-pressing appeared to be the choice method to compress the white tea for cost savings with minimal sacrifice on the sensory quality.