Sensory and instrumental analysis-guided exploration of odor-active compounds recovery with oil during the water-boiling extraction of Pu-erh tea

The objective of this study was to identify the released behavior of odor-active compounds of Pu-erh tea during the water-boiling extraction, as well as to explore the feasibility of aroma recovery using absorption oils. The behavior of odor-active compounds was identified by using piecewise recovered condensed water combined with sensory, GC-O, and GC–MS analysis. The power-function type kinetic model was the model that best fitted odor intensities, alcohols, methoxy-phenolics, esters, aldehydes, ketones, and total compounds of condensed water. The sensory quality of the condensed water was the best when 16% of added water was evaporated. Six absorption oils were evaluated, and paraffin oil (35 cSt) performed the best in terms of both absorption efficiency and sensory quality of the essential oil. Under   the   optimized   conditions, the absorption and recovery efficiency of odor compounds reached 54.49% and 39.52%, respectively. The alcohols, aldehydes, and methoxy-phenolics exhibited higher absorption and recovery efficiency.