Comparative study of secondary metabolites of Camellia sinensis and Camellia japonica flowers growing in the Kangra Region of India and their cytotoxicity evaluation

Abstract

Green tea is mainly processed from the shoots of Camellia Sinensis (CSS), while its flowers and seeds go to waste despite having positive health benefits. To utilize these flowers for making specialty tea, the metabolite profiles of flowers of Camellia Sinensis (CSF) and C. japonica (CJF) were compared with that of CSS using UHPLC-Q-TOF-IMS and GC-MS. 92 metabolites were identified, including 61 metabolites in CSS, 62 in CSF, and 64 in CJF. Infusions processed from CJF and CSF with CSS showed a lower astringency with a sweet aftertaste along with overall acceptability. Intriguingly, the quality profile of both the flower species was similar to CSS, and specialty tea can be made by optimizing the ratio of their flowers and shoots. Overall, the results suggest that fresh tea flowers can be blended with tea shoots to get flavory tea.