The common protocols for the quality determination of medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs), including herbs
and spices (HSs), are the yield and composition of essential oils (EOs). Meanwhile, studies on the sensory quality
of HSs showed that EOs composition does not translate to the profile of volatiles emitted from plants; therefore,
they do not provide a background for sensory quality assessment. Thus, in this study, the differences in the
composition of the EOs and the patterns of emission of unlimited (pure EOs) or limited (presence of a plant
matrix) volatiles by headspace were measured for three chemotypes of mint, namely menthol, carvone, and
linalool ones. The results have demonstrated that the presence of a plant matrix may change the contribution of
main volatiles even up to 47 percentage points, what allows suggesting that EOs chemical analysis is not a
reliable method for the determination of sensory quality of HSs.