Identification of aroma‐active compounds responsible for the floral and sweet odors of Congou black teas using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry/olfactometry, odor activity value, and chemometrics

Abstract BACKGROUND Floral and sweet odors are two typical characteristic aromas of Congou black tea, but their aroma‐active compounds are still unclear. Characterizing the key aroma‐active compounds can provide a theoretical foundation for the practical aroma quality evaluation of Congou black tea and directional processing technology of high‐quality black tea with floral or sweet odors. Gas chromatography–olfactometry (GC‐O) combined with odor activity value (OAV) is often used to screen key aroma‐active substances, but the interaction between aroma components and their impact on the overall sensory quality is ignored. Therefore, in this study, OAV combined with variable importance in projection (VIP) and Spearman correlation analysis (SCA) were used to characterize the aroma‐active components of Congou black teas with floral and sweet odors. RESULTS Eighty‐five volatiles were identified in these samples using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC‐MS). Twenty‐three compounds were identified as potential markers for the floral and sweet odors of Congou black teas from orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis (OPLS‐DA). Eighteen compounds were selected as candidate aroma compounds based on GC‐O analysis and OAV calculations. In addition, 26 compounds were screened as crucial aroma compounds based on SCA. Finally, 19 compounds were evaluated as key aroma compounds by the comprehensive evaluation of VIP, OAV, and SCA. Terpenoids are the main active compounds that contribute to the floral odor of Congou black tea, whereas aldehydes are the key compounds for the sweet odor. CONCLUSION The proposed method can effectively screen the aroma‐active compounds and can be used for comprehensive quality control of products. © 2022 Society of Chemical Industry.