Determination and comparison of lipid profiles of Chinese green tea varieties using untargeted lipidomics analysis combined with chemometrics

Abstract

Tea is the most widely consumed drink in the world. Lipids as important chemical components are closely related to the flavor and quality of tea. However, the information about the lipidomic fingerprints of different Chinese green tea varieties was limited. Therefore, an untargeted lipidomics analysis combined with chemometrics was applied for discriminating Chinese green tea varieties. A total of 147 molecular species belonging to 16 lipid classes were identified. And the green tea samples exhibited high levels of phospholipids, glycolipids, linoleic acid, and linolenic acid. They play important roles in metabolic processes that could influence flavor formation. Furthermore, combined with multivariate data analysis, 8 molecular species were screened out for discriminating green tea varieties, such as PC 16:0/18:3, MGDG 18:3/18:3, PC 18:2/18:2, etc. This study offers a reference for the guarantee of quality and the prevention of fraud within the Chinese green tea market.