Insights into momentous aroma dominating the characteristic flavor of jasmine tea

Jasmine tea is loved by most people who drink flower tea owing to its unique aroma, and it is known as the top of flower teas. In our study, the quantitative evaluation of the quality of jasmine tea and detection of aroma components were carried out. First, the flavor quality of 92 kinds of jasmine tea was evaluated using multiple sub-factor quality evaluation methods. According to the evaluation results, jasmine tea was divided into three types: "fresh and lovely" (FL), "heavy and thick" (HT), and "fresh and heavy" (FH). Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) was used to detect the aroma components of the three types of jasmine tea samples. α-Farnesene, cis-3-hexenyl benzoate, acid phenylmethyl ester, linalool, methyl anthranilate, and indole were the main substances that constituted the basic aroma quality characteristics of jasmine tea. Compared to the FL type, the HT and FH types were weaker in the diversification of the characteristic aroma and accumulation of green, herb, sweet, and roast aroma substances. Green and herb aromas play crucial roles in the fresh and persistent qualities of the three types of jasmine tea, which are the key quality factors research focus of jasmine tea.