Dynamic changes in Pu-erh tea during pile fermentation: Comparing novel plie fermentation to traditional method
2025
Dengyi Pei | Wenmeng He | Shuai Dong | Mingming Wang | Ying Xu | Dongfeng Wang
Ripened Pu-erh tea, a post-fermented dark tea, undergoes metabolite transformation through pile fermentation (PF). This investigation introduces a novel PF (NPF) process using green tea bud juice additives. We compared the dynamic chemical profile changes of NPF and traditional PF (TPF) Pu-erh tea through sensory evaluation, e-tongue analysis, essential components analysis, and untargeted metabolomics of volatiles and non-volatiles. NPF Pu-erh tea exhibited a darker black-red color, higher umami, mellower taste, and more floral aroma than TPF, attributed to higher concentrations of pigments, nucleotides, catechins, and lower polyphenols. Among the 54 identified volatiles, NPF was more positively correlated with floral and fruity scents. Non-volatile metabolomic analysis highlighted the importance of nucleotide metabolism, particularly AMP, IMP, and GMP pathways, in accumulating secondary metabolites like caffeine, catechins, gallic acid, and pigments. NPF Pu-erh tea demonstrated advantages in shortening fermentation time and enhancing flavor quality through rapid nucleotide accumulation.
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