Abstract: With the aim to study the effect of storage time on the aroma characteristic of Puer tea, the headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME) coup led with cap illary gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) was used for the determination of volatiles in Puer tea samp les stored for different lengths
of time. The results showed that the total contents of terpene and their derivatives in the tea samp les stored for 30, 25, and 6 years and the newly p rocessed tea were 51.42% , 89.15% , 74.10% and 39.72% , respectively. The classes of terpene and their derivatives in the tea samp le stored for some years and newly p rocessed tea were shown to be of great difference. The trans-caryophyllene was found to be the most abundant class of
compounds in the tea samp les stored for 30, 25, and 6 years with the content of 36.78%, 66.98% and 56.08% , respectively; whileα-guaiene was the main compounds in the newly p rocessed tea with the content
of 33.30%. Compared with newly p rocessed tea, both the class and the content of volatile compounds in the tea stored for some yearswere less. Twenty2three, twenty2four and twenty2two volatile compounds were identified respectively in the tea samples stored for 30, 25 and 6 years, while thirty-six volatile compounds in the newly p rocessed tea was found.

Key words: Puer tea, Volatile, Terpene, Headspace solid phase microextraction, GC-MS