Abstract by Ookame

AN ABSTRACT

The tea of rose flowers was reported to possess one of the strongest antioxidant activities among the 30 medicinal plant teas. The recent work of Ng and others linked the antioxidant activity in an aqueous extract of rose flowers with the presence of phenolic compound identified as a garlic acid derivative. Water of rose flowers was reported to possess anti-inflammatory, analgesic, antiviral and antifungal and others. Eleven cultivars were selected, Mercedes cultivar was taken as a reference because of its high antioxidant activity revealed in preliminary trials.12 cultivars flowers were selected and were picked for tea preparation. Whole flowers were brought to the laboratory 3 hours after picking. Petals were detached and spread in a thin layer on a plastic net, dried at room temperature. The air dry plant was steeped in boiling water screw capped plastic centrifuge tubes, infused in a water bath. Each sample was prepared, tubes were centrifuged, and the supernatant was separated by filtration. The filtered supernatant was used for the analytical procedures. There were no statistical significant differences found between the samples extracted with green tea. For rose tea samples, the maximal radical - scavenging activity was reached. The mean values of antioxidant activity of rose teas found in the present study were comparable with the findings of VanderYagt and others who used the same evaluation method. The activity of rose cultivars exceeded the value reported by VanderYagt and others. Rose petal tea may serve as caffeine free beverage with high antioxidant capacity.