Effects of sun drying combined with baking processes on the flavor quality of Chongqing Tuocha raw tea

  • Food Chem. 2025 Dec 30:497:146992. doi: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2025.146992.
Hongyu Luo  1 ,  Rui Chang  1 ,  Shanmin Chen  1 ,  Yueyun Liu  2 ,  Yi Wang  1 ,  Linying Yuan  1 ,  Juan Yang  1 ,  Ying Zhang  1 ,  Ruiqi Duan  1 ,  Quan Wu  1 ,  Yingfu Zhong  3
Affiliations
  • 1. Tea Research Institute of Chongqing Academy of Agricultural Sciences, No.2 Guishan Road, Yongchuan district, Chongqing 402160, China.
  • 2. Yibin Research Institute of Tea Industry, No.5 Daxue sanduan Road, Cuiping district, Yibin 644005, China.
  • 3. Tea Research Institute of Chongqing Academy of Agricultural Sciences, No.2 Guishan Road, Yongchuan district, Chongqing 402160, China. Electronic address: [email protected].
PMID: 41285060 DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2025.146992
Abstract

The quality of Chongqing Tuocha raw tea (CTRT) processed by different drying methods was analyzed. The results showed that baked then sun-dried (BS) groups sensory score were higher than sun-dried then baked (SB) groups. With baking time increasing, Amino acids levels increased, flavonoid glycosides levels decreased. Umami and sweet Amino acids levels in BS3 group (38.65 and 37.65 mg/g) were 3.27 % and 5.80 % higher than in the BS1 group. Flavonoid glycoside levels were lowest in the BS3 and BS2 (782.92 and 731.49 nmol/g). Argininosuccinic acid, N,N-dimethylglycine, isosilybin, 7,4'-dihydroxyflavone and scutellarin were tightly correlated to bitterness, L-glutamic acid and trans-4-hydroxy-l-proline were closely related to umami. Volatile components content in the BS2 group (62.36 μg/g) was 15.42 % higher than in the SB1 group. Twenty key volatile substances were screened. 1-nonen-3-one, β-Ionone, non-8-enal and trans-beta-ionone were the main aroma contributors for each group. Thus, BS3 and BS2 were favorable to improve CTRT quality.

Keywords
Baking; Chongqing Tuocha raw tea (Camellia sinensis, Theaceae); Flavor compounds; Sensory quality; Sun drying.
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