Flowering stage shapes the sensory quality and metabolite profile of kiwifruit floral tea.

Abstract

Harvest timing strongly influences the sensory quality of floral tea. Here, kiwifruit flowers discarded during cultivation thinning were processed into floral tea at the bud, half-open, and full-bloom stages. Sensory evaluation, targeted metabolomics by UPLC-QTRAP-MS/MS, headspace gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, and chemometrics were combined to relate chemical composition to sensory quality. Half-open flowers received the highest sensory scores and accumulated the highest levels of aroma-active aldehydes and esters, while linalool remained the dominant odor-active compound at every stage. Relative contents of procyanidin B2, ubiquinone 1, and caffeate also peaked at the half-open stage. A genetic algorithm support vector regression model linked chemical variables to sensory scores with a cross-validated R2 of 0.987. These findings identify the half-open stage as the preferred harvest window and support converting kiwifruit flower by-products into a value-added tea product.

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