Tea (Camellia sinensis L.) is a perennial acidophilic crop, and known to be a nonalcoholic stimulating beverage that is most widely consumed after water. The aim of this review paper is to provide a detailed documentation of selected micronutrient contents, viz. boron (B), cobalt (Co), copper (Cu), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), molybdenum (Mo), and zinc (Zn) in made tea and tea infusion. Available data from the literature were used to calculate human health aspect associated with the consumption of tea infusion. A wide range of micronutrients reported in both made tea and tea infusion could be the major sources of micronutrients for human. The content of B, Co, Cu, Fe, Mn, Mo, and Zn in made tea are ranged from 3.04 to 58.44 μg g-1, below detectable limit (BDL) to 122.4 μg g-1, BDL to 602 μg g-1, 0.275 to 13,040 μg g-1, 0.004 to 15,866 μg g-1, 0.04 to 570.80 μg g-1 and 0.01 to 1120 μg g-1, respectively. Only 3.2 μg L-1 to 7.25 mg L-1, 0.01 μg L-1 to 7 mg L-1, 3.80 μg L-1 to 6.13 mg L-1, 135.59 μg L-1 -11.05 mg L-1, 0.05 μg L-1 to 1980.34 mg L-1, 0.012 to 3.78 μg L-1, and 1.12 μg L-1 to 2.32 μg L-1 of B, Co, Cu, Fe, Mn, Mo, and Zn, respectively, are found in tea infusion which are lower than the prescribed limit of micronutrients in drinking water by World Health Organization. Furthermore, micronutrient contents in tea infusion depend on infusion procedure as well as on the instrument used for analysis. The proportion of micronutrients found in different tea types are 1.0-88.9% for B, 10-60% for Co, 2.0-97.8% for Cu, 67.8-89.9% for Fe, 71.0-87.4% for Mn, 13.3-34% for Mo, and 34.9-83% for Zn. From the results, it can also be concluded that consumption of three cups of tea infusion per day does not have any adverse effect on human health with respect to the referred micronutrients rather got beneficial effects to human.
Keywords: Health hazard; instruments; micronutrients; origins; tea infusion.