Comparative evaluation for minerals and nutritional elements in seventeen marketed brands of black tea of Bangladesh

Abstract

Seventeen marketed brands of black tea of Bangladesh (viz; Seylon, Tetley, Duncan, National, Fresh, Teer, Finlay, Starship, Ispahani, Cosmo, Magnolia, Danish, Shaw Wallace, Pusti, Kazi & Kazi, HRC and Lipton Taaza tea) randomly collected from the local supermarkets were evaluated for minerals as well as nutritional status. The experiment was done in 2015, 2016 and 2017 for determining the mineral (N, P, K, Ca, Na, Fe) and nutritional (sugar, fat, starch and protein) elements. All the studied parameters were found to vary significantly (P<0.05) with the marketed brands of tea. The average values of mineral compositions (N, P, K, Ca, Na and Fe) in Seventeen marketed brands were determined to be 5.11%, 0.24%, 2.21%, 1.35%, 0.16% and 0.057% respectively. Whilst the average values of nutritional elements (sugar, fat, starch and protein) were estimated to be 5.72%, 1.82%, 0.168% and 5.41% respectively. The present study concludes that in considering the total minerals and nutritional status, National tea was evaluated to be the paramount among the studied marketed brands of tea and all the studied brands of black tea were found to be ranked in the order of National> Cosmo> Lipton Taaza> Duncan> Finlay> Ispahani> Magnolia> Shaw Wallace> Seylon> Kazi & Kazi> HRC> Pusti> Danish> Tetley> Teer> Starship> Fresh. The sequence of minerals and nutritional compositions in all the studied brands of tea followed the sequence of price. The market price of all the studied brands of tea was found to be changed positively with the mineral and nutritional status.