Agric. BioL Chem., 47 (9), 2077-2083, 1983 2077 Flavor Constituents of Longjing Tea Michiko Kawakami and Tei Yamanishi* Ibaraki Christian Junior College, Hitachi-shi, Ibaraki 319-12, Japan *Ochanomizu University, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 112, Japan Received February 23, 1983 The flavor constituents of the highest quality Longjing tea parched on a pan while the leaves were turned over by hand were identified by GC-MS, and compared with those of Japanese kamairi-cha. Seventy-six components were characterized in Longjing tea. Nine compoundswere newly identified related to tea aroma; six from both Longjing and Japanese kamairi-cha, two from Longjing only and one from Japanese kamairi-cha only. The amount of pyrazines, linalool oxides, carboxylic acids, lactones, geraniol, 2-phenylethanol and ionone compoundswas larger, while the amount of cw-3-hexenol, cw-jasmone, nerolidol, indole and benzyl cyanide was muchsmaller in Longjing tea than in Japanese kamairi-cha. The former seven compoundsseemed to contribute to its characteristically strong pan-fired aroma as well as its floral and sweet aroma. "Longjing" tea is one of the famous Chinese method as previously reported.1* Yields of aroma con- green teas because of its attractive pan-fired centrates from Longjing tea and Japanese tea were 18.5 mg aroma and of its high quality. This sample and 6.0 mg respectively. formed a typical flat shape because it had been Identification of the components. The componentswere parched by hand. Pan-firing was done at a identified by matching GCand MSdata with those of lower temperature and it took a longer time authentic compounds or published data.1'2'4"6* Two than that of Japanese kamairi-cha, i.e. heated aroma concentrations were analyzed directly by GC-MS, at 80°C for 15min, and then at 25°C for 20hr. the system consisting of a Hitachi 663 gas chromatograph coupled with a Hitachi M-80A+M-003mass spectrom- In the present work we analyzed and iden- eter. The GCcolumn was a 50mx0.35mmfused silica tified the characteristic flavor componentsof column coated with FFAP. Longjing tea and compared them with those of Japanese kamairi-cha. The flavor of Japanese kamairi-cha was reported previously1'2) and RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Chinese kamairi-cha manufactured by a gen- Parameters of GC-MSand gas chromato- eral process was also reported.3) grams are shown in Fig. 1. The gas chroma- togram of Longjing tea showed more than MATERIALS AND METHODS one hundred peaks, while that of Japanese kamairi-cha showed about ninety peaks. Materials. Chinese Longjing tea was got from China National Native Products of Hangzhou. The sample was Aromapatterns of both samples were different of a yellowish green color and of the highest grade of from each other. Relative quantities of the spring tea, produced in 1982 (240 leaves/g). And it has a componentswere calculated from peak area strong sweet pan-fired aroma different from that of percentages on gas chromatograms and are Japanese kamairi-cha. Japanese kamairi-cha (cultivar. shown in Table I. Yabukita) was of the high grade produced in the Aso area, Kumamoto,in the same season in 1982 and it was of a Amongthose compounds listed in Table I, deep bluish green color and had a weak greenish aroma. four sesquiterpene alcohols, i.e. cedrol, cadinol T, torreyol and /?-eudesmol, 2,6,6-trimethyl- Preparation of aromaconcentrate. Aromaconcentrates cyclohex-2-en-l,4-dione and 3-methyl indole were prepared from 300g of individual teas by the same (skatol) were newly identified in tea aroma. to o 00 Longjing0 t tea tO, > 20 30 40 min '' '""*' ' '2|5^**'7 ^L........ '-å 'å å 1'-'å -^;å'^' ' ' '5 00' ']O6' '"'"I'U ' 2 20 ' I å i'i'i'»å » Iå i 1 1 r*-" r-'"1 ' r-t 1å iå iå |å i r-i r-*-i r-i 1 1 1å iå iå iå iå iå iå iå i-I'|å i Iå i i'I-~rå iå ,».iå tå tå ,å ,r~r-r-n r-r-å iå i>iå iå iå iå i Kamairi-cha 10° 0 10 20 30 iQ ^in ' >«0i "" 'å "'å å å å ' .'b0 .'tyk V' &? a' "95' "xffoi ' iV ' >< 12 I 101, J 6 "1 'I loa >v moo goo joa 400 "50C b00 Fig. 1. Gas Chromatograms of the Aroma Concentrates from Longjing Tea and Kamairi-Cha. Column, FFAP0.35 mmx 50m; column temp., 70->210°C, 3°C/min; ionization voltage, 20eV. Reconstructed total ion current. Flavor of Longjing Tea 2079 A) loo-n p tso 50 SI ^ifl,ill1,1I[IU!" ,f°^ 0 iOO 200 B) too-, « 43 121 I ll 161 "l.,ri.iliii,it»LJ.nj.ff. C) ioo^ 122 *°° - 119 50 105 95 ^iiiijjiilill[ ,I y"l 2zz D) 100_9_ i°°l 2£2 59 50 149 109 . 0 100 200 E) ioo-i eg å : : it so : 40 : i 15£ 0j^Ui^l,.,4,^,1,1,,0 100 20i~i , , F) 100T [Ho : 131 so : : 43 : j 77 0 -1å iå i'V^nr''i^^'ifH[i-|.^if.t.|.IM 0 100 Fig. 2. Mass Spectra of Newly Identified Compounds in Tea Aroma. A), cedrol; B), cadinol T; C), torreyol; D), jS-eudesmol; E), 2,6,6-trimethylcyclohex-2-en-l,4-dione; F), 3- methyl indole. 2080 M. Kawakami and T. Yamanishi Table I. Composition of the AromaConcentrates from Longjing Tea and Kamairi-Cha Re la tiv e qu an ti ty ( %) tR P e a k (m in ) N o . C o m p o u n d C h i n e s e J a p a n e s e L o n g j i n g K a m a i r i 3. 1 4 l -Pent en-3-o l 1.8 1. 3 3.7 6 D o d ec a n e 0 . 2 0 . 4 4.2 7 P en ta n o l 0 . 9 0 . 2 5.2 8 T rid ec a n e 0 .4 5.4 9 ds-2 -Penta n ol 0 . 9 0 . 3 6.4 l l 2, 5 - Dim eth ylp yra zine 0.3 7.0 12 CLS - 3 -Hex enol 0 . 3 1 . 8 7.2 1 3 ' T e tr ad ec a n e 0. 5 7.7 14 N o n a n al 0 . 2 0 . 1 8. 1 16 Ace ti c aci d 0 . 5 1 . 2 2 -M e th y l-5 -e th y lp y ra z in e 0. 1 8.7 17 F u r fu r a l 0. 1 8.9 18 Tr ime th yl p yr azi ne 0. 1 9.3 19 l -Octe n-3-ol 0.2 9.5 2 0 L in a lo o l o x id e (c is , fu ra n o id ) 1 . 2 0 . 2 9.8 2 1 H e p ta n o l 0.5 10 .1 2 2 ds - 3- He xe ny l bu ty rat e 0. 1 0 .1 10.2 2 3 ' B e n z a ld e h y d e 0 . 1 0 . 3 10.3 2 3 2, 5-D ime thy l- 3 -et hyl pyra zin e 0.3 10.5 2 4 P en ta d ec an e 0. 2 10.7 2 5 Li na loo l o xi de (tr an s, fur an oid ) 1.8 10.9 2 6 c/s - 3 - Hexe nyl -2 -met hyl bu tyra te 0.2 l l.4 29 130 1 U n k n o w n 9 . 2 9 . 3 l l.8 3 1 L in a lo o l 3 . 6 1 . 9 12.0 3 2 O cta n o l 1 . 8 0 . 8 12.2 3 3 trans , trans-3 , 5-Octad ien-2-one 1.6 0 .1 12.6 3 5 6- Me thy l- /r aHs -3 , 5- hep ta di en- 2- on e 0 . 1 0 . 2 12.9 3 6 2 , 6 , 6 -Tr ime thy l-2 -hy dro xyc ycl ohe xano ne 1 . 9 0 . 8 13.2 3 7 l -E thy l-2 -fo rmy l p yrr ole 1. 8 1. 8 13.5 3 8 tf -C y c lo c itra l 1. 1 0 .5 13.7 3 9 H e x a d ec a n e 0 . 2 0 . 2 14.2 4 0 l -Et hyl-2 -acety l pyr role 0.5 14.3 4 1 S afranal6 0.6 14.5 4 2 A ce to p h en o n e 0. 3 14.6 4 3 U n k n o w n 0 . 3 0 . 1 14.8 4 4 5 -H ex an o lid e 0.3 15. 1 4 5 ds - 3 -H e xe ny l h ex a no at e 1.5 1. 6 15.2 4 6 F u rfu ry l alc o h o l 0.2 15.8 4 7 2,6 ,6- Trim eth ylc ycl ohex -2- en- 1 , 4-d ion ea 0.2 16.0 4 8 4- H eptan olid e 0 . 8 0 . 7 16.2 4 9 a -T erp in e o l 0 . 8 0 . 4 16.4 5 0 5 - Hepta nolide 0 . 6 0 . 8 17.