Effect of Spices on Consumer Acceptability of Purple Tea (Camellia sinensis)

Spices have been used by consumers worldwide to improve flavours of food including tea. A study was done to determine the effect of selected spices on consumer acceptability of spiced purple tea, their antioxidant properties and economic impact. TRFK 306 was used. Flavored teas were developed, by blending the un-aerated purple tea with selected spices including ginger, lemon grass, nutmeg, cinnamon, tea masala, and rosemary at different ratios and resulting products brewed and assessed by a sensory panel. Antioxidant activity, catechin analysis and sensory evaluation were done and results showed that all the spices had low antioxidant activities as compared to un-aerated tea from TRFK 306. Cinnamon had an antioxidant capacity of 89.89%, ginger 69.23%, rosemary 89.47%, tea masala 55.79%, nutmeg 46.99% and Purple tea (TRFK 306) 92.53%. The results showed that some spices are preferred more with tea than others, and some have lower threshold detection values than others. Overall, addition of suitable spices to the purple tea led to an increase acceptability of tea.