Abstract

The volatile components of γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) tea produced by two different kinds of technological process separately namely: vacuum and water immersion were studied. It was shown by the sensory evaluation that the color of the soup and the extracted leaves of GABA tea were similar to that of the oolong tea, and the smell was similar to the aroma of cooked sweet red dates mixed with some of sour. In GABA tea, the contents of 2,6-bis(1,1-dimethylethyl)-4-methyl phenol, methyl myristate, methyl laurate and methyl palmitate were higher than that of the normal green tea. The characteristic aroma constituents of the GABA tea made by vacuum treatment concluded methyl myristate, hexadecane, methyl laurate and methyl palmitate, while to the GABA tea made by water immersion, they were 2,6-bis (1,1-dimethylethyl) -4-methylphenol and 1-octanol.

Key words: γ-Aminobutyric acid (GABA), GABA tea, volatile flavour compounds.

Abbreviation

GABA, γ-Aminobutyric acid; HPLC, high pressure liquid chromatography; SDE, simultaneous distillation extraction; GC-MS, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.

# Both authors contributed equally to the work.