Quality Assessment of Some Tea Samples Commonly Sold in FCT, Abuja-Nigeria

Background: Tea is a name given to a lot of brews; they are categorized as green tea, black tea, white tea, oolong tea and pu-erh tea which are derived from Camellia sinensis plant and herbal tea. They are made from herbs, fruits, seeds or roots and usually steeped in hot water and widely consumed worldwide as laxative or food. Tea varieties include ginger, hibiscus, gingko biloba, rosehip, jasmine, mint, Echinacea, rooibos and chamomile. The colour, brightness, strength and flavor of tea infusion are determined by chemical constituents and the plant used. Objective: The study aimed to assess the presence of chemicals contents and microbial load to ascertain quality of the tea samples using standard methods. Methodology: This study was carried out on twenty (20) brands of commonly consumed tea samples randomly collected from major markets in Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, Nigeria. The samples were processed and analyzed for phytochemicals, proximate, elements and microbial loads using Treas and Evans, AOAC, AAS and Agar dilution methods respectively. Results: The results showed the presence of alkaloids, tannin, saponin, flavonoids, and anthraquinones, reducing sugars, steroids, terpenoids and carbohydrates. The proximate value of the samples ranges from 0.014-93.63%. While the micro-elements ranges from 1.2512801.45μg/g and the macro-elements ranges from 1.00-332.55μg/g where as Copper, Chromium and lead were not detected in all the samples analyzed. The microbial load of all the samples fell within the acceptable limits according to the World Health Organization recommendations which allows a maximum 10 7 per gram (aerobic bacteria), yeasts and moulds, maximum 10 4 per gram, Escherichi acoli, maximum 10 2 per gram, other entero bacteria, maximum 10 4 per gram, clostridia, absence per 1gram, Salmonellae, absence per 1gram and Shigella, absence per 1gram.