Abstract:
To investigate the processing adaptability of the main tea varieties cultivated in the Fuan region of Fujian for producing flower-fruit-scented TanYang congou black tea, eight local tea varieties, i.e., Jin Mudan, Meizhan, Huang Guanyin, Fuyun 6, Fuyun 7, Fuan Caicha, Jin Guanyin, and Fuding Dabai, were selected in this study. Based on sensory evaluation and metabolite analysis, the potential for producing flower-fruit-scented TanYang congou black tea was assessed using a combination of hierarchical analysis based on gray relational analysis, membership function method and entropy-weighted TOPSIS method. The results showed that the black tea prepared from the fresh leaves of Jin Mudan variety demonstrated the highest (92.45) in the sensory evaluations, and the content of theanine, caffeine, EGCG, EGC and EC was 26.44 g/kg, 42.64 g/kg, 10.21 g/kg, 8.66 g/kg and 2.21 g/kg, respectively. Furthermore, 70 volatile compounds were detected, and alcohols accounted for 57.36% with geraniol and linalool being particularly abundant. The analysis using the gray relational method and membership function method indicated that Jin Mudan is located close to but not completely overlapping with Fuding Daba and Caicha, highlighting its uniqueness, while Meizhan showed some overlap with Fuyun 6 and Fuyun 7. Jin Mudan, with its rich internal compounds and excellent sensory quality, demonstrates significant varietal advantages in the processing of flower-fruit-scented TanYang congou black tea, providing important scientific evidence for optimizing variety selection and quality control.