Thermal drying temperature modulates sensory attributes, comprehensive two-dimensional volatile metabolome and widely targeted metabolome of Artemisia capillaris herbal tea grown on Dongying coastal saline-alkali soil.

Artemisia capillaris (Yinchen), a saline-alkali halophyte from China's Yellow River Delta, is made into functional herbal tea. Postharvest drying dominates its flavor and bioactive metabolites, yet temperature-gradient impacts on its sensory traits, two-dimensional volatiles and metabolome are unreported. This study characterized sample saline soil background and set four treatments: CK (fresh), T50 (50 °C), T100 (100 °C), T120 (120 °C), integrating QDA, GC × GC-TOFMS and UHPLC-QTOF-MS metabolomics. T50 brought bitter, grassy herbal scent; T100 sweet aroma; T120 roasted notes. Among 487 volatiles, low heat retained terpenoids while high heat generated Maillard heterocycles. 8821 differential metabolites were detected, with phenylpropanoid and flavonoid biosynthesis most disturbed. This work reveals temperature-driven flavor-metabolite remodeling mechanisms and guides targeted drying optimization for customized sweet/roasted Yinchen tea aromas.