###### Abstract  
The aroma profile of sun-dried black tea (SBT) was identified by headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME) coupled with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and gas chromatography-olfactometry (GC-O). A total of 37 scents were captured by using the GC-O technique, and 35 scents with odor intensities ranging from \(1.09\pm 1.93\) to \(9.91\pm 0.29\) were identified. Twenty-one compounds were further identified as key odor-active compounds with odor activity values (OAVs) greater than or equal to one. These key odor-active compounds were restructured with their detected concentrations, and the aroma profile of the selected SBT sample was successfully imitated to a certain extent. An omission test was performed by designing 25 models and confirmed that (_E_)-\(\beta\)-damascenone, \(\beta\)-ionone, dihydro-\(\beta\)-ionone, linalool, and geraniol were the key odor-active compounds for the aroma profile of SBT. Meanwhile, phenylethyl alcohol, (_E_)-2-decneal, hexanal, and methyl salicate were also important to the aroma profile of SBT. This study can provide theoretical support for the improvement of the aroma quality of sun-dried black tea. sun-dried black tea; odor-active compound; gas chromatography-olfactometry; odor activity value; aroma recombination; omission test 1221740  
26 April 20226 April 202267 June 20226 June 20226 June 20226 June 20226 June 20226 June 20226 June 20226 June 20226 June 20226 June 20226 June 20226 June 20226 June 20226 June 20226 June 20226 June 20226 June 20226 June 20226 June 20226 June 20226 June 20226 June 20226 June 20226 June 20226 June 20226 June 20226 June 20226 June 20226 June 20226 June 20226 June 20226 June 20226 June 20226 June 20226 June 20226 June 20226 June 20226 June 20226 June 20226 26 June 20226 2026 June 20226 2026 June 20226 2026 2026 June 20226 2026 2026 June 20226 mature \"broad leaf tea\" trees (_Camellia sinensis_ [L.] O. [PERSON] var. _assamica_ [Mast.] [PERSON]) through withering, rolling, fermentation, sun-drying, and other processes [6]. The difference between the processing of SBT and Dianhong tea is that, after withering, rolling, and fermentation SBT is dried naturally by sunlight, while Dianhong tea generally takes 230-250 \({}^{\circ}\)C (20-30 min) to improve tea aroma, and then takes 80-100 \({}^{\circ}\)C to dry (50-60 min) [7]. Without the high-temperature process, the SBT retains more active substances and presents a unique sweet floral and light green aroma. Several efforts have been carried out to identify the volatile compounds in SBT in recent years [8]. However, little investigation has been carried out on the aroma characterization of SBT, and its key odor-active compounds remain unknown yet, which poses a major obstacle to the scientific elucidation of the aroma quality of the SBT. The volatile compounds of tea are quite complicated and are found at trace levels, accounting for about 0.01% of the dry weight [9]. In particular, the results of GC-MS analysis varies greatly when different extraction methods are used, such as composition, number, relative content, and so on [10]; even with the same extraction method, the analysis results are greatly affected by the change of extraction conditions [11]. Thus, the selection of suitable extraction technique has become the decisive procedure to enhance the understanding of odor-active compounds of tea [12]. To date, the volatile extraction techniques most often used in teas include direct solvent extraction, simultaneous distillation-extraction (SDE), steam distillation-liquid/liquid extraction, Soxhlet extraction, vacuum hydrodistillation, thermal desorption, supercritical fluid extraction (SFE), solvent-assisted flavor evaporation (SAFE) and headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME) [13]. Noticeably, as one of the effective technologies to extract volatile matrices, SPME is rapidly emerging as a robust technique for the rapid, solvent-less extraction or pre-concentration of volatile and semi-volatile organic compounds in a variety of scientific disciplines [14].