Evaluation of composite tea made from roselle (Hibiscus sabdarffa), ginger (Zingiber officinale) and turkey berry (Solanum torvum)

Abstract

Tea is gaining increasing consumer attention due to a growing awareness of the health benefits derived from its consumption. Even though several underutilized plants exist with potentials for processing into tea, research in formulating tea using underutilized crop in Ghana is limited. In this study, roselle, ginger and turkey berry were used to formulate composite tea and their physicochemical, elemental and sensory properties were evaluated. The results from the physicochemical analysis revealed that 50% roselle + 25% ginger + 25% turkey berry had the optimum protein content of 4.14% while, elemental analyses showed that the same formulation had the optimum amount of Ca (1.80%), Fe (0.96 µg/g) and Cu (1.18 µg/g). However, the combination of 25% roselle + 50% ginger + 25% turkey berry had the best Na (6402.44 µg/g) and Zn (0.42 µg/g). The results from the sensory analyses revealed that tea made from the combination of 50% roselle + 25% ginger + 25% turkey berry was the most preferred one in terms of color, aroma, flavor, aftertaste and overall acceptability. Therefore, to obtain an optimum composite tea from roselle, ginger and turkey berry, the result suggests that, the composite should be prepared in a ratio of 50%, 25% and 25% respectively