IJFANS International Journal of Food and Nutritional Sciences

ISSN PRINT 2319 1775 Online 2320-7876

EVALUATION OF ANTIOXIDATIVE POTENTIAL OF TEA INFUSIONS SUPPLEMENTED WITH SOME FLAVOUR PRODUCING HERBS

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1 Somdutta Banerjee, 2 Shreyashi Das, 3 Sauryya Bhattacharyya

Abstract

Tea bags have been proved to be a blessing for modern people who desire quick tea in between their busy schedules. Invention of tea bags solved two problems i.e. preparation of a single serving teabrewing more conveniently and to reduce hazards of disposal after preparation of the infusion. The present study delved into characteristics of tea bags prepared using three different types of tea, viz. black tea, oolong tea and green tea, separately combining with different herbal additives, viz. mint (Mentha spicata), basil (Ocimum basilicum) and ginger (Zingiber officinale) that provide flavour and fragrance to adjudicate their antioxidant potential as well as contents of bioactives. The results indicated that there was no difference in the organoleptic acceptability to the consumers before and after addition of the herbs, clearly indicating the commercial potential of the prepared tea bags. Antioxidant assays like total phenolic content determination or DPPH assay indicated no substantial difference between the samples. Improvement of flavonoid contents with mint supplemented tea bags not only increased the chances of imparting better antioxidant profile to the samples, but also improved amount of tannins in the infusions, probably by inducing condensation of the biomolecules. Overall, mint supplemented tea bags have a better chance to produce positive effects systemically.

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