Abstract: This research had been carried out to explore the main fungi in the green brick tea fermentation heap. The fungi from Hubei green brick tea were separated and purified through gradient dilution method. One fungus was identified based on morphological characteristics and the sequence alignment of ITS gene and LSUrDNA. The mice intragastric administration was operated with the fungi as dry powder to analyze the toxicological action. In addition, the strain LC-2 was used to simulate fermentation experiment. The results indicated that, the morphological characteristics of strain LC-2 was highly similar to Mucor racemosus Fres. Phylogenetic analyses showed the similar results. No toxicological action was observed in the mice after oral administration. The simulate fermentation tea tasted sweet and soft, and the liquor color seemed reddish yellow. There was no significant difference between the quality of normal green brick tea and the simulate fermentation tea. And the strain LC-2 was proved to be the main fungus participated in the fermentation of green brick tea, which could be used in the automated production of green brick tea.

Key words: green brick tea, fungi, identification, fermentation