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Abstract
The aim of this work was to formulate herbal black tea using Bitter kola (Garcinia kola), kola nut (Cola acuminate) and Ginger (Zingiber officinale) and analyse the phytochemical, antimicrobial and microbial, properties of the formulated bagged tea. The phytochemical assessment of the formulated herbal black tea were investigated using established analytical procedures while antimicrobial activity test of the herbal tea was carried out against the bacteria isolates using disc diffusion method. The phytochemical analysis of the herbal tea revealed high concentrations of Tannin (15.00%), but low levels of Flavonoid (2.17%), Alkaloids(1.20%) and Caffeine content (1.5mg/g). The study reveals high antimicrobial activity on the clinical isolates Staphylococcus aureus (25 mm), Streptococcus spp (20 mm) and Escherichia coli (15 mm) respectively. Furthermore, five of the herbal tea was assayed for microbial quality assessment, the result showed ranged from (zero) 0 to 1.0 X 105 (cfu/g) for total aerobic count, and total fungi count ranged (zero) 0 to 1.1 X 105 (cfu/g) while coliform count was 0 cfu/g (zero) or absent. The result of this study therefore revealed that the herbal tea formulated from ginger, kolanut and bitter kola are of good source of phytochemicals and permitted level of caffeine. The presence of this photochemical indicated the good antimicrobial activity of the herbal tea. Hence these herbal tea can also be incorporated into medicine in treatment of illness associated with these bacteria’s. Key words: Herbal tea, Phytochemicals, Caffeine, Antimicrobial, Microorganisms.