Sensomics-assisted identification of key aroma components contributing to the characteristic scent of vacuum-extracted Jin Guanyin tea hydrolat and its aroma enhancement potential.

Tea hydrolat is an innovative value-added tea product with natural tea aroma. Nevertheless, the dearth of research has hindered its industrial development and commercialization. Therefore, this study is the first to investigate the Jin Guanyin Oolong tea hydrolat under vacuum extraction. Sensory evaluation and volatile analysis revealed that low-temperature, short-duration extraction (optimally 50 °C for 40 min) better preserved aroma quality. The 40 aroma components were detected by gas chromatography-olfactometry, and subsequently jasmine lactone, benzeneacetaldehyde, methyl salicylate, hexanal, benzaldehyde, indole, jasmone, methyl heptenone, β-ionone, (Z)-3-hexen-1-ol, and 1-penten-3-one were identified as the key aroma components of the tea hydrolat based on the aroma recombination and omission tests. Hydrolat scenting demonstrated excellent aroma-enhancing efficacy in tea, achieving up to a 20.69 % increase in key aroma components. These findings indicated the substantial potential for tea hydrolat application in increasing the added value of tea aroma in industry.