Abstract:Dried Chen Pi teas aged for different times from the Xinhui area of Guangdong Province were used as the raw materials. The color, taste and major constituents of these Chen Pi teas were examined by the spectrophotometer, electronic tongue, high performance liquid chromatography and UV spectrophotometry to determine the effects of aging time on the quality of the teas and the correlations. The results show that the color values, L*, a* and b*, had linear regression relationship with the aging time. Based on the PCA analysis of the taste, the changes in the response values of sourness and umami taste were the greatest (-10.69~-25.73, 4.97~9.88), which allow distinguishing the tea aged for one year from the teas aged for years. With the increase of aging time, the contents of total flavonoids, total polysaccharides, nobiletin and tangeretin increased significantly, whilst the contents of hesperidin and total polyphenols decreased. The correlation analysis showed that there were significant correlation among the color, taste and chemical components, and such changes were significantly correlated to the changes of hesperidin and total flavonoids in the Chen Pi tea. Taken together, the color, taste and chemical components of Chen Pi tea were influenced by aging time (with a significant correlation), which provides a basis for determining the aging time of Chen Pi tea.
