Volatile compounds and sensory characteristics of various instant teas produced from black tea

Abstract

Various instant teas produced differently from black tea [freeze-dried instant tea (FDIT), spray-dried instant tea (SDIT), and decaffeinated instant tea (DCIT)], were compared for their differences in volatile compounds as well as descriptive sensory analysis (DSA). A total of 63 volatile compounds in all tea samples (eight aldehydes, ten alcohols, nine ketones, five esters, eight acids, ten terpenes/terpenoids, ten furans/furanones, two pyrroles, and one miscellaneous compound) were tentatively identified. Black tea, FDIT, SDIT, and DCIT contained 60, 55, 47, and 40 volatile compounds, respectively. Ten flavour attributes such as after taste, astringency, bitter, caramel-like, floral/sweet, green/grassy, hay-like, malty, roasty, and seaweed were identified. Intensities for a number of flavour attributes (except for caramel-like in SDIT and bitter and after taste in DCIT) were not significantly different (p>0.05) among tea samples. The present study suggests that instant teas can also be used as good alternative to black tea.

Keywords: Black tea; Decaffeinated instant tea; Descriptive sensory analysis; Freeze-dried instant tea; Spray-dried instant tea; Volatile compounds.