Study on Tea Consumption Behavior During the Covid-19 Pandemic and the Analysis of the Antioxidant Activity and Bioactive Compounds of Flavoring Ingredients of Tea

Tea is one of the most popular and oldest beverages available in many varieties and the use of different flavoring ingredients is becoming more common. The present study aimed to examine tea consumption behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic and analyzed the bioactive compounds of tea flavoring ingredients. At first, a cross-sectional study was carried out with 140 randomly selected participants to determine tea consumption patterns and data was collected through face-to-face interviews. Then 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) test, the Folin-Ciocalteu technique, and the quercetin method were used to assess antioxidant activity, total phenolic content (TPC), and total flavonoid content (TFC) of tea flavoring ingredients. The study found that 57.86% of the participants increased their tea consumption during the COVID-19 pandemic, whereas 22.80% increased their tea consumption by at least one more cup per day. It was also found that ginger was the most popular (29.5%) among fifteen tea flavoring agents. By analyzing tea flavoring ingredients, the maximum antioxidant activity found in cinnamon was 87%, and lemon leaves had the lowest, which was 60%. On a dry weight basis, the TPC of the tea flavoring components ranged from 36.52 mg GAE/g for cloves to 9.62 mg GAE/g for ginger. The maximum TFC was also found in clove with 13.68 mg QE/g, and moringa was the second highest with 12.26 mg GAE/g. The antioxidant activity of flavoring compounds has a significant correlation (p<0.05) with TPC and TFC. Overall, tea consumption behavior with tea flavoring ingredients increased during the COVID-19 pandemic situation. Tea with flavoring ingredients may be one of the best dietary sources of antioxidants, TPC, and TFC which are important for strengthening the immune system and controlling different physiological and metabolic disorders.