Abstract: To investigate the characteristics of quality formation of Simian tea, the non-volatile components, mineral elements and filamentary structure of fresh leaves from different positions of ‘Simian Tucha’ tea plants, endemic to Zigui, were analyzed using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-Q-TOF-MS), inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results showed that the non-volatile components were more abundant in the leaves with higher tenderness, with amino acids, alkaloids, catechins, and aroma glycosides being mainly concentrated in the first (L1) and second leaves (L2). Theanine, organic acids, and flavonoids were mainly concentrated in the third leaf (L3), while the content of non-volatile components in the older leaves was relatively lower. The accumulation of mineral elements greatly varied among tea leaves with different tenderness. The contents of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, zinc, and copper in L1 (32.41 mg/g, 4.53 mg/g, 15.65 mg/g, 45.45 μg/g, and 10.75 μg/g, respectively) and L2 (30.60 mg/g, 3.70 mg/g, 14.12 mg/g, 35.82 μg/g, 9.02 μg/g, respectively) were higher than those in older leaves. The contents of iron, manganese, and calcium were higher in mature leaves. Through SEM observation, it was found that the filamentary structure of Simian tea leaves consisted of two forms, triple-stranded coil and single-stranded coil, and was distributed in the internal thread or ringed vessels of the xylem in the vascular bundles in the midvein and lateral veins, and the number of filamentary structures was higher in the second, third and fourth leaves than that in buds and L1.

Key words: Simian tea; tenderness; non-volatile components; mineral elements; filamentary structure