Tea compound-saliva interactions and their correlations with sweet aftertaste

Abstract Huigan is an important sensory attribute which is commonly used as a quality indicator evaluation of tea products. Previous studies showed a strong correlation between the lubrication behavior of saliva-tea compound mixture and the sensory perception of Huigan from trained panelists. This work was further designed to investigate how the effect of tea consumption on the rate of saliva secretion and its functional properties including total protein content of saliva (TPC), salivary α-amylase (AMY) and lipase activity (LP). A quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring (QCM-D) was applied to reveal the adsorption behavior of human whole saliva and how the salivary film is affected by the presence of tea compounds. Results showed a significant positive correlation among TPC, LP and Huigan intensity for subjects who are Huigan-sensitive. Compared to the desorption of salivary film, the desorption of saliva-EC/EGC (epicatechin/epigallocatechin) mixture from the gold surface by QCM-D observation showed a significant effect on Huigan intensity in sensitive group when comparing to the salivary layer (blank).