Compression and Aging Reshape White Tea's Aroma and Taste, Study Finds
A metabolomics study in the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture maps how pressing white tea into cakes and aging it deepen its fruity, sweet aroma and cut astringency.
Compressing white tea into cakes and aging it reshapes its aroma and taste, deepening floral, sweet and fruity notes while reducing harshness and astringency, a study published on 8 January found.
White tea is made by withering and drying alone. A portion is pressed into cakes and kept for years, sold as aged white; a white tea kept is a white tea changed.
The study, in the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, was conducted by Run Huang and colleagues at Ocean University of China. The researchers paired sensory evaluation with metabolomics, the chemical profiling of the leaf, across four forms: loose white tea, compressed white tea, and each of those aged.
Compression enhanced floral and sweet notes and reduced harsh flavors, the researchers found. Aging intensified fruity aromas and lowered astringency.
Aged compressed white tea developed a complex fruity and woody aroma, with heightened sweetness and minimal bitterness. The team linked the aroma compounds decanal and cedrol to these attributes.
Metabolomic analysis pointed to flavonoid biosynthesis as central to the changes, according to the study. In the aged compressed tea, the polymerization of theabrownins and thearubigins, brown and red pigments, darkened the brewed liquor.
Soluble solids increased while free amino acids decreased, which the researchers attributed to enzymatic hydrolysis and Maillard reactions during aging.
Sources: Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, Exploring the effects of compressing and aging processes on functional components and flavor of white tea by omics methods; Crossref, 10.1002/jsfa.70434.