Formulation and Evaluation of Lemongrass (Cymbopogon Citratus) Value- Added Coffee

Abstract

Herbal beverages are one of the beverage diversification products that have been well recognized in the market. Addition of herbs or spices in coffee, not only offer an enhanced flavor characteristic, but more importantly also offer the consumer to gain a health benefit. Lemongrass is commonly recognized as an herb. This research aims to develop a lemongrass value-added herbal coffee with the aim of increasing consumption of coffee and to study the characteristics of herbal coffee obtained physico-chemically and by sensory analysis. Ground coffee shall be blended with

ground lemongrass at different proportions of 0% which is the control, 2.5%, 5% and 7.5% of the weight of coffee to obtain ready to drink lemongrass herbal coffee. The infused drinks, the control with the lemongrass coffee at different proportions, shall be then subjected for consumer preference and acceptance by testing it to panelists based on preference test using the ranking test. The blends shall also be analyzed for its physico-chemical characteristics such as its powder and brewing appearance, Ph., TTA, total phenolic compounds, antioxidant activity and caffeine concentration. The results shall be expressed as the means of standard deviation. The significance of difference will be tested by one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), using Excel (Microsoft Office, 2007; Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA, USA) and SPSS version 18.0.