Abstract: The color and taste of the liquor are key indicators for assessing the sensory quality of Ziyang Maojian tea. In this study, sensory evaluation, biochemical composition analysis and untargeted metabolomics analysis were conducted to identify the critical components influencing the tea liquor's color and taste quality. The results showed that the total sensory quality scores of the 20 Ziyang Maojian tea samples were similar. However, significant differences were observed in individual scores of taste and liquor color. Biochemical composition analysis revealed that phenolic compounds, primarily catechins, were the key substances affecting the taste and color quality. In contrast, the content of free amino acids and caffeine had no significant impact on these qualities.A total of 281 non-volatile compounds were detected using un-targeted metabolomics analysis. Among them, 52 and 26 were proposed as key compounds related to taste and liquor color qualities, respectively. Further analysis revealed that 15 flavonoids and their glycosides, including quercetin, myricetin, quercetin glucoside, myricetin-3-O-galactoside isomers, and 5 phenolic acids including coumaric acid, caffeic acid, salicylic acid, positively contributed to to taste formation. Catechin dimers such as procyanidin C1, procyanidin B2, and epicatechin-(4beta→8)-epicatechin-3-O-gallate were beneficial for the formation of liquor color. Additionally, metabolites such as epicatechin, epigallocatechin, epiafzelechin, caffeoylquinic acid, and isomers of procyanidin C1 were found to contribute significantly to both taste and color quality. These findings provide theoretical support for Ziyang Maojian tea sensory quality improvement through optimizing processing techniques in practical production to increase metabolite content critical for liquor color and taste quality formation.