Drying is one of the oldest and most important processes used to preserve food products. This process reduces the biochemical, chemical and microbial changes of the products and increases their shelf life by reducing the water and enzymatic activity. In addition, drying is known as an operation to increase the value added of the food products. In this regard, drying of fruits with the aim of producing different types of fruit tea has become very popular in recent years. Quince fruit is an aromatic product with high levels of pectin, phenols, protein, carbohydrate, as well as mineral elements in terms of nutritional value and medicinal importance. In addition to freshly use of some varieties, this fruit can be used in cooking various foods giving a very excellent taste and fragrance, and also in preparation of jam, jelly, and marmalade. Moreover, quince tea could be an alternative use which is prepared by drying of the small pieces of the fruit and then boiling them in hot water. In this study, drying process of diced and sliced (grated) pieces of the quince fruit with initial moisture content of 85% (w.b.) was done using fixed bed and fluidized bed hot air methods at temperatures of 50, 60 and 70 °C. In the fixed bed and fluidized bed methods, air velocity was 0.5 and 2 m s -1 , respectively. Moreover, in the fluidized bed method, a vibrating system with the amplitude of 3 mm and frequency of 80 Hz was used in the 15-20 min of the beginning of the process to prevent agglomeration of the particles. Drying kinetics, color indices ( Lab ), and water absorption capacity were determined and compared for different treatments. At the end of the process, the quince tea was prepared from different treatments and then compared using sensory evaluation in three stages in terms of taste and color. The results showed that the effect of drying method and drying temperature on drying duration was significant, but the effect of the particles shape was not significant. Moreover, the interaction effect of drying method and particles on drying time was only significant. The effect of drying method and drying temperature on water absorption capacity at 5% probability level, and the effect of particles shape at 1% probability level was significant. Investigating the color indices of the dried samples showed that only the effect of the shape of fruit pieces on the color index of L was significant at 5% probability level, and the effect of this factor on the color index of a was significant at 1% probability level. The effect of drying method, temperature and shape of particles on the color index of b were all significant at 5% probability level. Only for two treatments of the grated sample dried by the fixed bed method at 50 °C and the diced sample dried by the fixed bed method at 70 ° C, the constant drying rate was observed and for other treatments the drying rate was falling. The Handerson and Pabis model was the best model for predicting drying kinetics of the grated particles dehydrated by the fixed bed method at 60 °C, diced (cubic) particles dehydrated by the fixed bed method at 50 °C and 70 °C, and diced particles dehydrated by the fluidized bed method at 50 °C and 70 °C. The Midili model was also selected for the grated particles dried by the fixed bed method at 50 °C and 70 °C, the grated particles dried by the fluidized bed method at 50 °C, 60 °C, and 70 °C, diced particles dried by the fixed bed method at 60 °C, and diced particles dried by the fluidized bed method at 70 °C. Based on the sensory evaluation performed among 8 samples at three steps, the prepared quince tea with the grated samples dried by the fixed bed method at 50 °C, ranked the first in terms of color. Regarding the taste of the prepared quince tea the cube-shaped samples dried by the fixed bed method at 70 °C ranked the first. Keywords Color indices, drying kinetics, fixed bed, fluidized bed, quince tea, sensory evaluation, water absorption capacity.