Квітка зеленого чаю

The flower

Green tea flower is the bloom of Camellia sinensis, an evergreen shrub of the family Theaceae. The flowers are white, 2.5 to 3.5 cm across, with six to eight petals. They bud in the leaf axils and can be solitary or have up to three in a cluster.

Aroma chemistry

Linalool was the only volatile compound with an ACI above 27 in all samples, whether the flowers were unopened, half-opened or fully opened. Half-opened tea flowers had the most volatile compounds, including high levels of linalool and its oxides. Linalool is a terpene alcohol found in many flowers and spice plants. Unopened buds contained the highest amounts of alcohols, while fully opened flowers had the highest amounts of heterocyclic compounds.

In tea flowers from Kangra, phenylethanol, linalool and geraniol were among the major components of the supercritical fluid extract. In headspace analysis, linalool made up 35.1% of the volatiles.

Origin and naming

The tea plant was originally native to the highlands of the Hengduan-Purvanchal region between southwestern China, northern Myanmar and northeastern India. Linnaeus did not consider the plant a Camellia but placed it in a separate genus, Thea. In 1818 Robert Sweet merged the two genera, selecting Camellia for the merged genus.

Explore all seven extraits in the Discovery Set.

—

Related: Acerola Blossom · Albizia · Anisaldehyde · Apple Blossom · Babys Breath · Campion Flower · Cannonball Flower · Cotton Flower