Summer-autumn tea leaves are abundant, yet their utilization remains low. Our study enhances the quality and flavor of Golden Flower loose tea (GFLT) from fresh summer-autumn tea leaves by using a special "Golden Flower" fungus (strain ACF-2). The strain ACF-2, identified as Aspergillus cristatus with yellow cleistothecium and isolated from Fu Brick Tea, was characterized by colony morphology, microstructural analyses, and phylogenetic examination using a 3-gene dataset (BenA, CaM, RPB2). Inoculation of raw dark tea products with A. cristatus led to a significant increase in tea water extract ...