{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,20]],"date-time":"2026-08-20T06:23:50Z","timestamp":1787207030553,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":52,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,20]],"date-time":"2026-08-20T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1787184000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Plant Sci."],"abstract":"<jats:p>\n                    Long-term storage of Lapsang Souchong (LS) black tea is traditionally believed to improve its aged flavor and functional quality, but the multi-level changes underlying this process remain insufficiently characterized. In this study, LS black tea samples from eight production years (2013\u20132023, corresponding to 10 to 0 years of natural storage) were investigated using sensory evaluation, chemical composition analysis, antioxidant activity assays, and multimodal data integration. Electronic tongue profiling and widely targeted UPLC\u2013MS\/MS metabolomics were further performed on five representative production years to characterize instrumental taste responses and non-volatile metabolite remodeling. Quantitative descriptive analysis revealed storage-responsive taste changes, with Sour and Smooth increasing during storage and Brisk, Umami, and Sweet decreasing. Among these attributes, Sour showed the strongest monotonic association with storage duration (Spearman r = +0.994). Chemical analysis indicated storage-related tea pigment transformation, especially higher theabrownin levels and lower TR\/TB ratios in long-stored samples. Metabolomic profiling identified 183 storage-associated metabolites, revealing prominent changes in lipid-derived compounds, flavonoid- and tannin-related metabolites, and pine-smoking-derived diterpenoids. Notably, abietic acid and dehydroabietic acid were markedly depleted during storage, suggesting that pinewood-smoking-related diterpenoids may serve as characteristic molecular indicators of LS storage transformation. Among the four antioxidant assays, PTIO\u00b7 scavenging showed a significant negative association with storage duration (Spearman r = \u22120.810,\n                    <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                    \u00a0=\u00a00.015), suggesting its potential relevance to the depletion or transformation of nitrogen-containing bioactive compounds. Multimodal integration using a single-latent-variable partial least squares regression model captured the major storage-related variation based on 19 predictors, with cross-validated performance of\n                    <jats:italic>\n                      Q\n                      <jats:sup>2<\/jats:sup>\n                    <\/jats:italic>\n                    \u00a0=\u00a00.864 and RMSECV\u00a0=\u00a01.370 years. Twelve predictors showed VIP values greater than 1.0 across sensory, electronic tongue, chemical, metabolomic, and antioxidant modalities. In addition, a simplified composite storage score showed strong concordance with actual storage duration across the eight production years (Spearman r = +0.976,\n                    <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                    \u00a0&amp;lt;\u00a00.001). Overall, these findings indicate that LS black tea storage involves coordinated sensory, chemical, molecular, and functional transformations rather than simple quality deterioration, providing a quantitative basis for storage-related quality evaluation.\n                  <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpls.2026.1934917","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,20]],"date-time":"2026-08-20T05:28:10Z","timestamp":1787203690000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Integrated sensory, chemical, metabolomic, and antioxidant profiling reveals coordinated quality transformation of Lapsang Souchong black tea during decade-long storage"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Shulin","family":"Zheng","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Tea and Food Sciences, Wuyi University","place":["Wuyishan, China"]},{"name":"Tea Engineering Research Center of Fujian Higher Education, Wuyi University","place":["Wuyishan, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Aoge","family":"Gong","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Tea and Food Sciences, Wuyi University","place":["Wuyishan, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Lirong","family":"Zuo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Tea and Food Sciences, Wuyi University","place":["Wuyishan, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xueni","family":"Xie","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Tea and Food Sciences, Wuyi University","place":["Wuyishan, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Liting","family":"Ou","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Tea and Food Sciences, Wuyi University","place":["Wuyishan, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Shuangxu","family":"Yang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Management, Minbei Vocational and Technical College","place":["Yanping, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xi","family":"Cheng","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Tea and Food Sciences, Wuyi University","place":["Wuyishan, China"]},{"name":"Tea Engineering Research Center of Fujian Higher Education, Wuyi University","place":["Wuyishan, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xiaoyong","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Huangshan University","place":["Huangshan, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Bo","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Tea and Food Sciences, Wuyi University","place":["Wuyishan, China"]},{"name":"Tea Engineering Research Center of Fujian Higher Education, Wuyi University","place":["Wuyishan, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yutao","family":"Shi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Tea and Food Sciences, Wuyi University","place":["Wuyishan, China"]},{"name":"Tea Engineering Research Center of Fujian Higher Education, Wuyi University","place":["Wuyishan, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,20]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.foodchem.2021.131098","article-title":"Tea and its phytochemicals: Hidden health benefits & modulation of signaling cascade by phytochemicals","volume":"371","author":"Bag","year":"2022","journal-title":"Food Chem."},{"key":"B2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"4073","DOI":"10.1007\/s00216-016-9496-x","article-title":"Ageing of resin from pinus species assessed by infrared spectroscopy","volume":"408","author":"Beltran Sanchidrian","year":"2016","journal-title":"Anal. 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