Changes in the volatiles, chemical components, and antioxidant activities of Chinese jasmine tea during the scenting processes

Chinese jasmine tea, a type of flower-scented tea, is produced by repeatedly mixing the base tea with the aromatic flowers of Jasminum sambac. The aim of this study was to analyze the changes in the volatiles, chemical components, and antioxidant activities of Chinese jasmine tea during six rounds of the scenting processes. The results indicated that benzyl alcohol, linalool, benzyl acetate, (Z)-3-hexenyl benzoate, methyl anthranilate, indole, and -farnesene were seven major volatile compounds of jasmine tea. Moreover, the total amount of the volatile compounds increased gradually with increasing scenting rounds. The absorption of linalool became saturated quickly, while those of the other six major volatile compounds exhibited nearly linear increases throughout all six repeated scenting rounds. Importantly, the value of the jasmine tea flavor index, an evaluating indicator of the aroma quality, gradually increased with the progression of the repeated scenting rounds. The change of each detected taste component was less than 15% during six rounds of the scenting process. The antioxidant activities of the tea samples decreased in the first two rounds and later increased in the succeeding four rounds of the scenting process. However, the antioxidant activity of the finished tea was lower than that of the base tea, being significantly correlated with the change of catechin concentration. The findings provided insight into the changes in the volatiles, chemical components, and antioxidant activity of Chinese jasmine green tea during the repetitious scenting process, which could provide beneficial insight on improving the quality grade of the tea.