Abstract: To investigate the effects of different storage conditions on the quality characteristics and in vitro glycolipid metabolism enzyme inhibitory activities of ‘Zhonghuang 1’ yellow leaf green tea (YLGT), the tea was stored for 12 months under the following conditions: at 25, 4, –­20 ℃ in sealed bags, at 25 ℃ in vacuum packs, at 25 ℃ in sealed bags after microwave pretreatment, or at 25 ℃ after pulsed light pretreatment. The sensory quality, moisture, tea polyphenol, free amino acid, total sugar, and water extract contents were measured before and after the storage period, and changes in the inhibitory activities against α-glucosidase, α-amylase, cholesterol esterase, and pancreatic lipase were evaluated. The results showed that the sensory quality and physicochemical components were preserved significantly better during storage at –­20 ℃ than at 25 ℃ (P < 0.05), whereas storage at 25 ℃ led to significant deterioration in quality indicators, along with the greatest reduction in enzyme inhibitory activities. The inhibitory activities against all glycolipid metabolism enzymes except pancreatic lipase were significantly higher at –­20 ℃ than at the other storage temperatures (P < 0.05). The pulsed light treatment group exhibited significantly higher pancreatic lipase inhibitory activity compared with the ­20 ℃ group (P < 0.05). Therefore, it is hypothesized that storage at –20 ℃ under vacuum packaging can more effectively maintain the quality of yellow leaf green tea and sugar and lipid metabolism.

Key words: ‘Zhonghuang 1’; yellow leaf green tea; storage methods; quality analysis; hypoglycemic and hypolipidemic activities