The effect of temperature-controlled pile-fermentation on the flavor quality of primary dark tea

作者：Shuihe Yun, Hui Chen, Jiakun Fan, Liling Yang, Wei Wang, Huanyu Chen, Jianan Huang, Zhonghua Liu, Yushun Gong, Shi Li · 发表于：LWT · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1016/j.lwt.2025.117750 · 被引用次数：9 · 研究领域：Food Quality and Safety Studies、Tea Polyphenols and Effects、Fermentation and Sensory Analysis

The pile-fermentation temperature significantly influences the quality of dark tea. The study compared traditional pile-fermentation of dark tea with temperature-controlled pile-fermentation at 45 °C to improve quality. Sensory evaluation, untargeted metabolomics, and Illumina MiSeq sequencing were employed to assess the effects. Results indicated that temperature-controlled fermentation at 45 °C produced a mellower taste and enhanced overall flavor, while also altering the abundance of key microorganisms and accelerating the formation of flavor compounds. Compared with traditional pile-fermentation, the total amount of tea polyphenols and flavonoids decreased faster, and phenolic acids and organic acids showed a decreasing trend. In particular, 4-p-coumaroylquinic acid decreased significantly in the late stage of temperature-controlled pile-fermentation. A variety of factors combine to improve the dark tea flavor. The predominant bacterial genus identified was Klebsiella , while the primary fungal genera included Cladosporium , Wallemia , and Aspergillus . These results suggest that temperature-controlled pile-fermentation not only improves the quality of primary dark tea but also increases the efficiency of the fermentation process. • 1.Temperature-controlled pile-fermentation enhances the quality of primary dark tea. • 2.Chemical components vary under temperature-controlled pile-fermentation. • 3.Temperature-controlled pile-fermentation influences microbial interactions.