# Difference in Aroma Components of Black Teas Processed on Different Dates in the Spring Season
); [PERSON]AIL_ADDRESS] (X.Z. ); [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (H.H.H. ); [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (N.Z.) [PERSON]  
1 Tea Research Institute, Hunan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Changsha 410125, China; [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (P.Y. ); [PERSON]AIL_ADDRESS] (X.Z. ); [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (H.H. ); [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (N.Z.) [PERSON]  
1 Tea Research Institute, Hunan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Changsha 410125, China; [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (P.Y. ); [PERSON]AIL_ADDRESS] (X.Z. ); [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (H.H. ); [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (N.Z.) [PERSON]  
1 Tea Research Institute, Hunan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Changsha 410125, China; [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (P.Y. ); [PERSON]AIL_ADDRESS] (X.Z. ); [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (H.H. ); [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (N.Z.) [PERSON]  
2 College of Agriculture, Jiangqi Agricultural University, Nanchang 330045, China; hyj@[EMAIL_ADDRESS] (Y.H. ); [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (Z.L.) [PERSON]  
1 Tea Research Institute, Hunan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Changsha 410125, China; [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (P.Y. ); [PERSON]AIL_ADDRESS] (X.Z. ); [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (H.H. ); [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (N.Z.) [PERSON]  
1 Tea Research Institute, Hunan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Changsha 410125, China; [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (P.Y. ); [PERSON]AIL_ADDRESS] (X.Z. ); [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (H.H. ); [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (N.Z.) [PERSON]  
1 Tea Research Institute, Hunan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Changsha 410125, China; [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (P.Y. ); [PERSON]AIL_ADDRESS] (X.Z. ); [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (H.H. ); [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (N.Z.) [PERSON]  
1 Tea Research Institute, Hunan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Changsha 410125, China; [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (P.Y. ); [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (X.Z. ); [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (H.H. ); [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (N.Z.) Zi Zhao  
1 Tea Research Institute, Hunan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Changsha 410125, China; yphuhui@163.  
mality, juicy-sweet, and rose-like odors [6; 9; 10]. Aroma is the ultimate manifestation of the interaction of various volatile components. It has been reported that aldehydes are the most abundant volatile compounds in black teas, followed by alcohols and esters [6; 10]. In terms of individual volatile components, the main aroma components in black teas are hexanal, benzaldehyde, methyl salicylate, (E)-2-hexenal, benzene acetaldehyde, 3-methyl butanal, geraniol,linalool, benzyl alcohol, phenylethyl alcohol, cis-linalool oxide (furan), ethyl acetate, heptanal, and (E,E)-2,4-heptdalenal, amongst others [6; 10; 11; 12; 13]. The volatile compounds in teas consist of volatiles present in fresh leaves and those generated during processing [5]. Thus, the volatile compounds in teas are greatly influenced by the tea cultivar [11; 14], production season [15; 16], altitude [17], shading treatment [14; 18], manuring [19], processing method [3; 20], etc. In terms of different production seasons, altitudes, and shading treatments, the climatic conditions, especially temperature and sunlight, are greatly disparate [21; 22]. With different climatic conditions, the aroma components in fresh tea leaves vary greatly [21]. In addition, the metabolism of aroma precursors, including fatty acids [23], amino acids [24], and carotenoids [24; 25], is significantly regulated by temperature and/or light. In China, tea is mainly manufactured in the spring season, i.e., from March to May. Although these three months all belong to spring, the climatic conditions are markedly different from March to May. For instance, the temperature becomes significantly higher and the sunlight substantially stronger from March to May. Therefore, in theory, the aroma qualities of teas in different production periods should be very different. Recent studies found that a production date in spring had a notable influence on the aroma quality of green teas [26; 27].In addition, the production season showed a great influence on the aroma of black tea [15], green tea [16], and white tea [28]. However, the differences among black teas produced on different dates in the spring still remain unclear.