Assessment of the aluminium contents of black tea and black tea infusions

Abstract

The aluminium (Al) can cause health problems to human being at overdose. The black tea is among the most common beverages in the world but may contain higher amount of Al. This study was conducted to determine Al content in black tea produced in Rize, Tabzon and Giresun/ Turkey and amount of Al transferred into tea infusions. Tea infusions were prepared for 15, 30, 45 and 60 min and the Al content was determined using the inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES). The Al content in black teas was ranged from 8177.75 ± 1167.76 to 15,657.72 ± 1060.05 mg/kg. Al content of samples taken from Trabzon were lower than the Al contents of samples collected from Rize and Giresun. Infusion time effected significantly the amount of Al transferred into the tea infusions (p < 0.05). The Al content in black teas was significantly influenced by the production location and depended on the harvest season (p > 0.05).