Abstract: Fresh tea leaves of the cultivar Baojing Huangjincha 1 were used to manufacture Congou black tea by the sequential steps of withering, rolling, fermentation and drying. Our aim was to investigate the influence of these steps on the formation of main taste compounds. The results showed that withering had the greatest influence on the formation of free amino acids in tea, and the variation in total free amino acids after withering accounted for 375% of the total variation over the whole manufacturing process, whereas it had only a slight effect on the formation of other taste compounds. The contents of water extract, tea polyphenols, total catechins, soluble sugar, and free amino acids were decreased after rolling, which had greater effects than the other processing steps on the formation of theaflavins and thearubigins, and the variation in these two compounds after rolling accounted for 260% and 164% of the total variation, respectively. The fermentation process increased the contents of total flavones, soluble sugar, thearubigins, and theabrownins, and the variation in soluble sugar and total free amino acids accounted for 195% and 183% of the total variation, respectively. The drying process increased the contents of gallic acids, total flavones, and caffeine, and contributed 148% and 98% to the total variation of soluble sugar and theaflavins during the entire manufacturing process, respectively.

Key words: Baojing Huangjincha 1, Congou black tea, processing steps, taste compounds, total variation