| Shoot traits of nine new clonal species(families), Danxia No.1, No.2(CK), No.3, No.5, No.6, No.8, No.9, No.10 and No.13,selected from the north Canton Renhua white-hair tea group, and the sensory qualities of their 1-bud-1-leaf processed white tea were compared. The study showed that: (1)large differences of shoot traits exist among the different tested species (families) which could be
categorized as follows: bud, especially large, large (fat), slender; leaf shape, long oval, oval and round; leaf colour, dark green, green, light green or yellow-green; leaf quality, soft, hard, or hard-and-thick; leaf body, folded inside, flat, slightly rolling back; (2)while the sensory
qualities of the 9 new sepcies (families) vary, they are all suitable for making high-grade white tea of the "sweet and mellow, fresh and bright, fragrance diffusing"character, among which, Danxia No.1 has the "fragrance of honey thyme"; Danxia No.3 has a unique, pleasant "powder with herbal incense"; Danxia No.5 showed a pleasant "pine sweet"; Danxia No.8 shows a rich, pleasant "grass and Tsaoko herbal incense"; Danxia No.6 and No.9 have large (fat) buds and bright white hairs, and a strong, lasting sweet orchid fragrance; Danxia No.10 showed a delicate and delightful"lemon (pomelo) aroma"; Danxia No.13 has a slightly weaker overall quality, showing a "light sweet fragrance". Except that Danxia No.13 scores slightly lower than the controll species of Danxia No.2, all other new species have an equivalent or better sensory quality than the control groups. Their overall quality ranks as follows: Danxia No.1≥Danxia No.9≥Danxia No.8>Danxia No.5≥Danxia No.10≥Danxia No.6 >Danxia No.3≥Danxia No.2 >Danxia No.13. |
