Volatile Composition and Aroma Description of Tea (Camellia sinensis) Flowers from Albino Cultivars

Volatiles are important quality components in tea (Camellia sinensis) flowers. Albino tea plants are mutant tea plants with diverse abnormal metabolisms. However, whether the metabolisms of volatiles in tea flowers from albino cultivars are abnormal remains unclear. In this study, headspace solid-phase microextraction coupled to gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and aroma evaluation were conducted to investigate the volatile composition and aroma of tea flowers from three albino cultivars (i.e., Baiye No.1, Huangjinya, and Yujinxiang) and one non-albino cultivar (i.e., Jiukeng). The results indicated that tea flowers shared the majority of volatiles but their relative abundances were different. Twelve differential compounds were screened out by partial least squares discriminant analysis. Linalool was the one with the highest relative abundance in three out of the four tea flowers, while acetophenone was the one with the highest relative abundance in tea flowers from Huangjinya. Aroma evaluation indicated that tea flowers from Huangjinya smelt sweetest among them. Partial least squares regression analysis revealed that acetophenone and (R)-1-phenylethanol were positively associated with the sweet smell, while methyl salicylate, 2-heptanol, (E)-2-hexenal, nonanal, and 2-pentanol were positively associated with the green smell. The results enhance our understanding of the volatiles and aroma of tea flowers from albino cultivars.