Abstract: Objective In order to provide theoretical basis for evaluating the quality of Xinyangmaojian tea,the aroma components in Xinyangmaojian tea produced at different periods during spring were analyzed.Method To investigate the effects of various production dates during spring on aroma components of Xinyangrnaojian tea,head space-solid phase microextraction combined with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry was used to analyze the aroma components of the four tea samples:sample 1 processed on March 25,2016,sample 2 on March 30,sample 3 on April 5 and sample 4 on April 9.Result Sixty-one aroma components were detected from the four samples,and total relative contens of the sixty-one aroma components was 81.99%-86.81%.There were 34 kinds of aroma components existed in the four tea samples.The relative contens of alcohols,aldehydes and ketones detected in tea samples produced before Tomb-sweeping Day were higher than the tea samples produced after Tomb-sweeping Day,but relative contens of esters,hydrocarbons,nitrogenous compounds,oxygen compounds and other compounds were on the contrary.Relative contents of ketones reduced gradually with delay of production date.The correlation analysis showed that there were extremely significant correlation (P<0.01) among shared aroma components of the tea samples processed at different periods during spring.The cluster analysis suggested that production date had stronginfluence on aroma components of Xinyangmaojian tea.Tea sample 1 and sample 2 produced before Tomb-sweeping Day were clustered into a class and tea sample 3 and sample 4 processed after Tomb-sweeping Day were clustered into another class.Conclusion The contents and kinds of aroma components in Xinyangmaojian tea are affected by production date.The aroma components in Xinyangmaojian tea produced before and after Tomb-sweeping Day varies.Therefore,aroma components can be used as an indicator to distinguish the production date of the Xinyangmaojian tea,as well as main basis for judging quality of Xinyangmaojian tea produced in spring.