Abstract:

Process white tea samples using fresh leaves of ‘Fuding Dahao’ tea as materials, and then carry on quality inspection, in order to study the effect of withering temperature and humidity (low, medium and high) and withering time (20 h, 26 h and 32 h) on the sensory quality and its main chemical composition. Results showed that withering temperature and humidity had a significant influence on the sensory quality, and the sample which spent 26 h to wither under middle temperature and humidity had the most excellent quality. Withering technology had impacted on the content of water extract, tea polyphenol, free amino acids and caffeine, but it was not notable. As withering temperature and humidity increased and withering time was extended, the sense quality in white tea increased at first and then decreased. Therefore, the best withering environment of white tea was in middle temperature and humidity, where the best withering time was 26 h.