The moisture content of black tea is an important factor affecting its suitability for processing and forming the unique flavor. At present, the research on the moisture content of black tea mainly focuses on a single withering step, but the research on the rapid detection method of moisture content of black tea applicable to the entire processing stage is ignored. This study is based on a miniaturized near-infrared spectrometer(micro−NIRS) and establishes the prediction models for black tea moisture content through machine learning algorithms. We use micro−NIRS for spectroscopic data acquisition of samples. Linear partial least squares (PLS) and nonlinear support vector regression (SVR) were combined with four spectral pre−processing methods, and principal component analysis (PCA) was applied to establish the predictive models. In addition, we combine the gray wolf optimization algorithm (GWO) with SVR for the prediction of moisture content, aiming to establish the best prediction model of black tea moisture content by optimizing the selection of key parameters (c and g) of the kernel function in SVR. The results show that SNV, as a method to correct the error of the spectrum due to scattering, can effectively extract spectral features after combining with PCA and is better than other pre−processing methods. In contrast, the nonlinear SVR model outperforms the PLS model, and the established mixed model SNV−PCA−GWO−SVR achieves the best prediction effect. The correlation coefficient of the prediction set and the root mean square error of the prediction set are 0.9892 and 0.0362, respectively, and the relative deviation is 6.5001. Experimental data show that the moisture content of black tea can be accurately and effectively determined by micro-near-infrared spectroscopy.

Fixation is the most critical step in the green tea process. Hence, this study developed a rapid and accurate moisture content detection for the green tea fixation process based on near-infrared spectroscopy and computer vision. Specifically, we created a quantitative moisture content prediction model appropriate for the processing of green tea fixation. First, we collected spectrum and image information of green tea fixation leaves, utilizing near-infrared spectroscopy and computer vision. Then, we applied the partial least squares regression (PLSR), support vector regression (SVR), Elman neural network (ENN), and Elman neural network based on whale optimization algorithm (WOA-ENN) methods to build the prediction models for single data (data from a single sensor) and mid-level data fusion, respectively. The results revealed that the mid-level data fusion strategy combined with the WOA-ENN model attained the best effect. Namely, the prediction set correlation coefficient (Rp) was 0.9984, the root mean square error of prediction (RMSEP) was 0.0090, and the relative percent deviation (RPD) was 17.9294, highlighting the model’s excellent predictive performance. Thus, this study identified the feasibility of predicting the moisture content in the process of green tea fixation by miniaturized near-infrared spectroscopy. Moreover, in establishing the model, the whale optimization algorithm was used to overcome the defect whereby the Elman neural network falls into the local optimum. In general, this study provides technical support for rapid and accurate moisture content detection in green tea fixation.