Aromatic Characteristics and Saccharide Contents of Zhenghe White Tea Steeped by Different Methods

Objective White tea is deeply loved by consumers because of its quality characteristics of fragrance, honey and mellow taste. Exploring the influence of different brewing methods on the quality of Zhenghe white tea soup can provide a theoretical basis for enriching the brewing methods and parameters of white tea.

Method Shoumeixiaopin Zhenghe White tea was prepared by steeping with boiling water (PC), boiling in a pot (ZC), or boiling then holding in a covered pot (ZCM). The brewed teas were subsequently analyzed on aromatics by the headspace solid phase microextraction (HS-SPME) with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) as well as on saccharides by the derivatization method with GC-MS.

Result The white tea steeped with boiling water (PC) was orange in color with mellow taste and aged aroma; that by ZC, golden in color with mellow taste and jujube fragrance; and that by ZCM, golden in color with slightly sweet taste, jujube aroma, and glutinous rice-like flavor. Overall, the tea steeped by PC differed significantly from ZC, but similar between ZC and ZCM, on aromatic characteristics. Relatively, PC-tea had significantly higher contents of indole, epoxy-β-Ionone, methyl salicylate, and β-ocimene but significantly lower (E)-3-hexenol, geraniol α-farnesene, and linalool than ZC and ZCM counterparts. ZCM produced the greatest contents of epoxy-β-Ionone, methyl salicylate, and α-farnesene among the 3 steeping methods, and made the tea containing the highest total soluble sugars at 157.3 μg/mL, which were followed by ZC and PC. ZCM and ZC brewed teas to be significantly more in fructose, glucose, sucrose, and maltose than did PC, and ZCM significantly surpassed ZC in the contents of fructose and sucrose.

Conclusion In comparison with the conventional steeping tea with boiling water, brewing the Zhenghe white tea by ZC or ZCM yielded the tea higher in the contents of indole, epoxy-β-Ionone, methyl salicylate, β-ocimene, fructose, glucose, sucrose, maltose, and total soluble sugars with mellow taste and jujube aroma. When the boiled tea in a pot or cup was covered, the aromatic and nutritional quality were further enhanced.