Elemental profiling of indian tea by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES)

Abstract

Fourteen elements (Al, B, Ba, Ca, Cr, Cu, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Na, Ni, Sr, and Zn) in 56 tea samples from different geographical regions of India (Assam, Darjeeling, Munnar, and Kangra) were quantitatively determined using inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICPOES) after microwave digestion. Validation of the analytical methodology was carried out using Certified Reference Material GSB-7 Tea Leaves. The tea samples were found to contain Al (0.421-4.139), Ca (3.513-9.495), Fe (0.096-453), K (9.046-34.967), Mg (0.414-3.868), and Mn (0.157-1.021) in mg/g levels, while B (2.7-39.0), Ba (29.0-72.9), Cr (3.7-10.5), Cu (2.5-31.9), Na (10.2-80.4), Ni (2.6-11.4), Sr (10.9-47.3), and Zn (16.4-50.7) were at μg/g levels. analytical data for the tea leaves from Assam and Darjeeling agreed with those reported in the literature. To the best of our knowledge, the data on the elemental content of tea samples from Kangra (Himachal Pradesh) are reported for the first time. Significant differences in the metal concentrations of virgin tea leaves vs. the processed tea leaves were observed. A correlation analysis of the elemental data was also carried out.