Research Advances on Quality Evaluation Methods of Tea Color, Aroma and Taste

With the progress of the time, the limitations of traditional tea quality evaluation methods have become increasingly prominent. Although the tea quality characteristics can be quickly identified by sensory evaluation, it is also easily affected by some subjective and objective factors. By contrast, determination of chemical components is relatively objective and accurate. However, it is complex to operate and can't reflect the overall quality of the tea. If combined with modern instruments and technologies on the basis of sensory evaluation and physico-chemical analysis, tea quality evaluation can realize advantage complementation and be more comprehensive. In this paper, some new technologies used in tea quality evaluation studies in recent years were summarized in terms of tea color, aroma and taste. Technologies included computer vison and image processing technology, colorimetric sensor array technology, electronic nose technology, comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography-time-of-flight mass spectrometry technology (GC×GC-TOFMS), gas chromatography and olfactometry technology (GC-O), electronic tongue technology and near infrared spectroscopy technology (NIRS). The development trend of new technology in tea quality evaluation was also discussed.