A study on processing of dried acerola (Malpighia glabra l.) tea bag and its storage condition

This research investigated the effect of mixing formulas and storage conditions on the quality of the acerola tea bags. The tea bag formula, which includes 94 g of acerola fragments, 6 g of oolong tea, and 3 g of sweet leaves, had the best sensory quality. Under this condition, the acerola tea powder had vitamin C of 759.63 mg/100 g, phenolic content of 1747.26 mg GAE/100 g, and antioxidant activity of 3025.70 mg AAE/100 g. Furthermore, the present study found that the acerola tea’s sorption isotherm curve was fitted with the GAB model (R 2 = 0.97). In addition, this study also examined the effects of several storage temperatures, such as 7 ± 2 °C, room temperature, and 40 °C, on the stability of an acerola tea for up to 28 days. The degradation of vitamin C, polyphenols, and antioxidant activity in tea samples during storage was fitted with the Arrhenius plots, first-order reactions, and Ball equation. Furthermore, at whatever storage temperature, the tea's final water activity was not above the safe zone of below 0.6.