Insights into potential flavor-active peptides and taste-related compounds in Longjing teas: A comparative study of 'Longjing 43' and 'Qunti' cultivars

Kangni Yan; Jiatong Wang; Mengxue Zhou; Qunhua Peng; Abdelkader Bassiony Mahmoud; Xue Bai; Susanne Baldermann; Xinbing Jiang; Shan Feng; Yan Wu; Jianyu Fu; Zhi Lin; Haipeng Lv; Jiang Shi

doi:10.1016/j.foodchem.2025.142790

Insights into potential flavor-active peptides and taste-related compounds in Longjing teas: A comparative study of 'Longjing 43' and 'Qunti' cultivars

Food Chem. 2025 Jan 6:471:142790. doi: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2025.142790. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Kangni Yan¹, Jiatong Wang², Mengxue Zhou², Qunhua Peng², Abdelkader Bassiony Mahmoud³, Xue Bai⁴, Susanne Baldermann⁵, Xinbing Jiang⁶, Shan Feng⁴, Yan Wu⁷, Jianyu Fu², Zhi Lin⁸, Haipeng Lv⁹, Jiang Shi¹⁰

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Tea Biology and Resource Utilization of Ministry of Agriculture, Tea Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hangzhou 310008, China; The Province Key Laboratory of the Biodiversity Study and Ecology Conservation in Southwest Anhui, School of Life Sciences, Anqing Normal University, Anqing 246133, Anhui, China.
² Key Laboratory of Tea Biology and Resource Utilization of Ministry of Agriculture, Tea Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hangzhou 310008, China.
³ Key Laboratory of Tea Biology and Resource Utilization of Ministry of Agriculture, Tea Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hangzhou 310008, China; Botany and Microbiology Department, Faculty of Science, South Valley University, Qena, Egypt.
⁴ Mass Spectrometry & Metabolomics Core Facility, The Biomedical Research Core Facility, Westlake University, Hangzhou 310024, China.
⁵ University of Bayreuth, Food Metabolome, Faculty of Life Sciences: Food, Nutrition, Kulmbach, Germany.
⁶ Management Committee of Hangzhou West Lake Scenic Area, Hangzhou 310008, China.
⁷ The Province Key Laboratory of the Biodiversity Study and Ecology Conservation in Southwest Anhui, School of Life Sciences, Anqing Normal University, Anqing 246133, Anhui, China.
⁸ Key Laboratory of Tea Biology and Resource Utilization of Ministry of Agriculture, Tea Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hangzhou 310008, China. Electronic address: linzhi@caas.cn.
⁹ Key Laboratory of Tea Biology and Resource Utilization of Ministry of Agriculture, Tea Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hangzhou 310008, China. Electronic address: lvhaipeng@caas.cn.
¹⁰ Key Laboratory of Tea Biology and Resource Utilization of Ministry of Agriculture, Tea Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hangzhou 310008, China. Electronic address: shijiang@caas.cn.

PMID: 39798359
DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2025.142790

Abstract

Longjing tea is well-known for its exceptional umami/mellow flavor, but the complexity of interactions among chemical compositions has impeded in-depth understanding. This study comprehensively compared the taste contributors in 'Longjing 43' (LJ43) and 'Qunti' (QT). Peptidomics revealed 865 identified water-soluble peptides in QT, and 497 in LJ43, with 44 umami peptides predicted. Potential umami peptide-T1R1/T1R3 complexes were further modeled using AlphaFold 3. LJ43 had higher levels of theanine (>18 mg/g), and glutamine (∼4 mg/g) compared to QT. Similar amounts of flavan-3-ols (>150 mg/g), particularly EGCG (>60 mg/g) and ECG (>30 mg/g) were determined in LJ43 and QT. Moreover, Longjing teas' characterized flavor contributions by macromolecules (peptides), and small molecules (amino acids, catechins, saccharides, and Maillard reaction products) were integrated. These insights will greatly expand tea flavor chemistry and provide promising approaches promotion premium Longjing teas.

Keywords: Flava-3-ols; Flavor-active peptides; Longjing tea; Maillard peptides; Peptide-T1R1 complex; Umami taste.