COMPARISON OF GAS-CHROMATOGRAPHIC VOLATILE PROFILING METHODS FOR ASSESSING THE FLAVOR QUALITY OF KENYAN BLACK TEAS

A comparison is made of the various ratios used to quantify black tea aroma such as: ratio of sum of gas chromatographic peak areas of compounds eluting before linalool (3,7-dimethyl-1,6-Octadien-3-ol) to those eluting after linalool (Wickremasinghe-Yamanishi ratio); gas chromatographic peak areas of compounds imparting sweet flowery aroma (Group II volatile flavour compounds) to those imparting green grassy aroma (Group I volatile flavour compounds), Owuor's flavour index; ratio of the sum of gas chromatographic peak area of the terpenoids to non-terpenoids, i.e. Mahanta ratio; and gas chromatographic peak area of linalool to E-2-hexenal, i.e. Yamanishi-Botheju ratio. The Wickremasinghe Yamanishi ratio and Owuor's flavour index showed a significant relationship, the Mahanta ratio showed a significant but poor relationship, and the Yamanishi-Botheju ratio had no relationship with the tasters' evaluation of Kenyan clonal CTC black teas. Similar results were obtained from orthodox black teas manufactured from different varieties.