Festus Abiose Olajubu

Department of Microbiology, Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko, Nigeria, India
Author    Correspondence author
Journal of Tea Science Research, 2017, Vol. 7, No. 6   doi: 10.5376/jtsr.2017.07.0006
Received: 16 Mar., 2017    Accepted: 06 Apr., 2017    Published: 15 May, 2017

This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Olajubu F.A., 2017, Antimicrobial and antihaemolytic activities of crude extracts of some commonly used tea and coffee in Nigeria, Journal of Tea Science Research, 7(6): 39-45 (doi: 10.5376/jtsr.2017.07.0006)

Current indiscriminate abuse of existing antibiotics in clinical and veterinary treatments lead to an upsurge in antimicrobial resistant strains of microorganisms and aggressive search for alternatives which are readily available, less expensive with little or no side effect. Tea and Coffee are beverages consumed daily in every household in Nigeria. This study examines the antimicrobial and anti-haemolytic properties of commonly available Tea and Coffee in Nigerian market. The antimicrobial potencies of the extracts were assessed through disc diffusion method on pathogens of both man and animal origin while the anti-haemolytic assay was carried out through colorimetric method. The extracts were slightly acidic at full strength and no antifungal property was observed. Broad spectrum and bactericidal effects were observed against Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella pullorum, Shigella dysenteriae and Streptococcus pneumonia. These activities were concentration dependent. Very poor activity was observed against Escherichia coli. Bactericidal rate of coffee was at 6hrs but ranged between 18 and 24 hrs for tea extracts. Tea extracts greatly inhibited the haemolytic potential of alpha toxins while coffee performed poorly. Tea and Coffee could thus serve as supportive treatment for some bacterial infections without fear of side effects, since they are naturally taken as daily beverages.

Tea; Coffee; Antimicrobial; Anti-haemolytic; Toxins; Nigeria