Catechin composition of Wuyi rock tea samples analyzed by HPLC (mg g⁻¹ dry weight)^a.

Tea samples	SX-L	SX-M	SX-S	QZ-L	QZ-M	QZ-S	DHP-L	DHP-M	DHP-S	RG-L	RG-M	RG-S	P
GC	8.5 ± 0.6BCD	14.9 ± 0.3A	10.4 ± 1.5B	5.3 ± 0.6EF	5.5 ± 1.1EF	4.5 ± 0.1F	6.8 ± 0.2DE	7.6 ± 0.9CDE	5.6 ± 0.7EF	8.4 ± 0.3BCD	9.2 ± 0.2BC	7.6 ± 1.0CDE	P < 0.001
EGC	18.2 ± 0.6BC	22.2 ± 0.2A	16.9 ± 0.4CD	13.9 ± 0.2EFG	12.5 ± 0.1GH	10.8 ± 0.1H	15.2 ± 0.1DEF	15.8 ± 2.8DE	13.0 ± 0.1FG	19.1 ± 0.2B	16.6 ± 0.7CD	14.1 ± 0.2EFG
C	1.1 ± 0.1CD	1.9 ± 0.0A	1.0 ± 0.0CD	0.8 ± 0.1CD	0.8 ± 0.1CD	0.7 ± 0.0D	1.1 ± 0.0C	1.5 ± 0.5B	1.1 ± 0.1CD	0.9 ± 0.0CD	0.9 ± 0.0CD	0.9 ± 0.0CD
EC	3.9 ± 0.0A	3.5 ± 0.1C	3.5 ± 0.0CD	3.1 ± 0.0E	2.9 ± 0.1F	2.6 ± 0.0G	3.7 ± 0.0B	3.5 ± 0.1CD	3.2 ± 0.0E	3.5 ± 0.0C	3.4 ± 0.1D	3.0 ± 0.1E
EGCG	29.1 ± 0.6CD	30.2 ± 0.3C	28.5 ± 0.6DE	37.5 ± 0.3A	37.7 ± 0.6A	35.2 ± 0.7B	27.6 ± 0.1DEF	27.6 ± 1.3DEF	26.0 ± 0.1F	29.3 ± 0.3CD	30.4 ± 0.9C	27.0 ± 0.7EF
GCG	7.6 ± 0.7ABC	7.8 ± 0.3AB	6.0 ± 0.3C	8.4 ± 0.9A	6.9 ± 0.7ABC	6.0 ± 0.2C	6.5 ± 0.3BC	7.3 ± 0.4ABC	5.9 ± 0.5C	7.2 ± 0.3ABC	7.0 ± 0.6ABC	6.7 ± 0.3BC
ECG	10.0 ± 0.2E	9.8 ± 0.1E	9.3 ± 0.3F	12.5 ± 0.1B	8.3 ± 0.9G	10.9 ± 0.3D	12.8 ± 0.1A	13.1 ± 0.7AB	11.8 ± 0.1C	9.7 ± 0.6EF	9.4 ± 0.5F	9.0 ± 0.3FG
CG	0.9 ± 0.1BC	1.0 ± 0.0B	0.6 ± 0.0CD	0.9 ± 0.1BC	0.7 ± 0.1CD	0.6 ± 0.0D	1.0 ± 0.1B	1.2 ± 0.2A	0.9 ± 0.1BC	0.7 ± 0.0CD	0.7 ± 0.1CD	0.7 ± 0.0CD
Total	78.0 ± 2.8BC	89.6 ± 1.2A	74.7 ± 3.1BCDE	81.3 ± 2.4B	73.9 ± 7.6BCDE	69.8 ± 1.3CDE	73.7 ± 0.9BCDE	76.2 ± 6.5BCD	66.2 ± 1.7E	77.6 ± 1.7BC	76.0 ± 2.9BCD	67.4 ± 2.4DE

^aData are expressed as mean ± SD (n = 3). Values in a row followed by different letters are significantly different (P < 0.05). Data marked with different superscripted letters are significantly different at P < 0.05 level by the S–N–K test using SPSS 19.0 software. Capital letters (A, B, C…) represent a statistically significant difference within each row.