LC-MS based metabolomics and sensory evaluation reveal the critical compounds of different grades of Huangshan Maofeng green tea

Six grades of Huangshan Maofeng (HSMF) green tea were studied by LC-MS based metabolomics combined with sensory evaluation on bitterness, astringency and sweet aftertaste. Although there was no significant correlation (p > 0.05) between tea grades and the contents of total polyphenols and flavonoids, non-targeted metabolomics revealed that all grades of tea could be classified into two groups, group 1 (T1, T2) and group 2 (T3, 1, 2, 3). The main marker compounds responsible for distinguishing the two groups were procyanidins, flavonoid glycosides, and four hydrolysable tannins, including monogalloyl glucose, digalloyl glucose, trigalloyl glucose and galloyl-hexahydroxydiphenoyl-glucose. The Pearson correlation coefficients of these hydrolysable tannins with HSMF green tea grades were between 0.82 and 0.95. Furthermore, their Pearson correlation coefficients regarding sweet aftertaste were in the range of 0.73-0.83. This study suggested combination of metabolomics and sensory evaluation could provide an insight in searching for more potential taste-active components.