Abstract:Tea (Camellia sinensis) volatile compounds play important roles in both tea aroma quality and tea plant defense against environmental stresses. In addition to volatile terpenes and volatile fatty acid derivates, volatile phenylpropanoids/benzenoids (VPBs) play important, but relatively underappreciated, roles in tea aroma quality and the ecological functions of tea plants. Owing to these contribution, biosynthesis of VPBs in tea have attracted increasing interest. The recent progress in research into some characteristic VPBs directly investigated in tea were summarized, including biosynthesis pathways of 2-phenylethanol, phenylacetaldehyde, and some VPBs, and their formations in response to light stress; biosynthesis pathways of 1-phenylethanol and acetophenone, and their formations in response to insect stress; biosynthesis pathway of indole and its formation in response to temperature and wounding stresses. We also discuss the potential occurrence of some noncanonical biosynthetic pathways for VPBs in tea and the special response mechanism of VBP formations under some stresses.