Quality and sensory attributes of composite herbal tea from Parquetina Nigrescens (Parquetina) and Cymbopogon Citratus (Lemongrass)

Herbal teas are functional foods that interest consumers as they contain bioactive compounds known to promote health. As such, five different formulations of Parquetina and Lemongrass (100:0%, 87.5:12.5%, 75:25%, 62.5:37.5% and 50:50%) were used for the development of composite herbal teas which were evaluated for their phytochemical and mineral compositions, antioxidant capacities, microbiological quality and sensory attributes. The phytochemicals present in the composite herbal teas included phenols that ranged from 0.36 to 0.90 mgGAE/100ml, flavonoids (0.25 to 0.58 mgQE/100ml), alkaloids (0.12 to 0.79 mg/100 ml), saponins (0.04 to 0.14 mg/100ml), cardiac glycosides (0.01 to 0.1 mgDT/100ml), tannins (0.03 to 0.05 mgTAE/100ml) and terpenoids (0.04 to 0.25 mg/100ml). Potassium was the mineral with the highest concentration and it ranged from 15.06 to 21.19 mg/100ml in the tea samples. The composite herbal teas showed antioxidant capacities that ranged from 17.77 to 40.96%. The total bacterial count of the composite herbal tea ranged from 8.05 × 10 4 to 8.95 × 10 4 cfu/g, total fungal count (2.55 × 10 4 to 3.05 × 10 4 cfu/g) and total coliform count (5.50 × 10 2 to 7.5 × 10 2 cfu/g). Sensory evaluation showed that the most preferred sample was P 50 L 50 (50% parquetina and 50% lemongrass). Conclusively, parquetina and lemongrass could be utilized in the production of a composite herbal tea with good quality and sensory attributes.