The aromatic and polyphenolic composition of lemon verbena tea

The chemical composition of the largely used tea from lemon verbena, Aloysia triphylla, was investigated. The qualitative and quantitative composition of the main aromatic and polyphenolic constituents of tea made by infusion from leaves were examined. The results showed that the relative proportions of the active constituents differ from those of the original leaves. The tea contained a large amount of polyphenolic compounds (mean value 675 mg/l; extraction yield 65%) including verbascoside (400 mg/l) and luteolin 7-diglucuronide (100 mg/l). It contained also 42 mg/l of essential oil (extraction yield 51%) with much more citral (77% of the essential oil) than the original leaves (41%). (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.