Quality Assessment of Some Selected Herbal Teas in Port Harcourt Metropolitan

In recent years, the production, sales and use of herbal teas is on the rise because of its potential and perceived health benefits. They are teas not made from Camellia sinensis (Linnaeus) Kuntze but from other plants, herbs, roots, and plant extracts. This study therefore, aimed at evaluating the quality and standards of four selected herbal teas in Port Harcourt market which includes WinsTown Fertility Tea® , Ijele Lemon and Ginger Tea™, Twinnings Blood Pressure Regulating Tea™ and Korean Ginseng Tea®. They were assessed for their weight uniformity and variations, physiochemical properties which includes moisture content, ash values, extractive values, foaming index, phytochemical constituents, heavy metals and microbial contaminations following standard procedures. From the result of the weight uniformity and variation, all the products showed inconsistent weight uniformity that varies from the stated weights. Phytochemical screening results showed that flavonoids, carbohydrates and saponins were common in the four teas. The teas have moisture content above the permissible limit except Korean Ginseng Tea. The ash values also showed that only Korean Ginseng Tea is free from impurities. WinsTown Fertility Tea® and Twinnings Blood Pressure Regulating Tea™ showed the presence of high cadmium. Korean Ginseng Tea® showed very high presence of Chromium. The microbial quality evaluation showed that all the four teas contain microbial contamination above permissible limit. In conclusion, this study has underscored the lack of adequate quality and standards of these products and serves as an important contribution to the regulatory bodies', producer's and consumer's knowledge of the herbal teas.