Sensory characteristics and biochemical basis of small-leaf group varieties of Chinese Sichuan black tea

This study combined Quantitative Descriptive Analysis (QDA), PanelCheck, partial least squares regression (PLSR), partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA), and hierarchical cluster analysis to investigate the sensory quality of Sichuan small-leaf black tea. A trained sensory panel established a lexicon of 18 descriptors (10 aroma descriptors and 8 taste descriptors) and evaluated seven black tea samples on a 0–9 scale. Panel performance analysis showed that most sensory attributes exhibited significant sample discrimination (p < 0.01), while most mean squared error (MSE) values ranged from 0 to 1, indicating good repeatability. The results showed that the sensory profile of Sichuan small-leaf black tea was characterized by a sweet aroma, accompanied by chestnut- and sweet potato-like notes, whereas its taste profile was mainly defined by umami and sweetness.