Physicochemical and Phytochemical evaluation of different black tea brands

Standardization of herbal drugs raw material is essential to assess the quality, based on the consistency (concentration) of their active principles. Tea plant (Camellia sinensis) contains Caffeine that is responsible for the stimulating effect of the beverage. The objectives of this study are extraction, qualitative estimation of caffeine by TLC method, physicochemical standardization, phytochemical evaluation(qualitative tests) and chemical tests for detection of inorganic elements from different black tea brands. The different black tea brands (Brooke Bond Taj Mahal, Tata Premium and Duncan Double Diamond) are suddenly collected from local market. Standardization including – organoleptic properties, foreign matter, pH of aqueous solution ash values, extractive values, successive extractive values, moisture content, volatile oil content, Preliminary phytochemical screening and chemical tests for inorganic elements. The results obtained from this study can be used to standardize different black tea brands in the market.