Asian Journal of Food Research and Nutrition

Lemongrass is a very popular herb nowadays due to its health-promoting characteristics. It is a medicinal herb with antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and antibacterial properties. Consumption of lemongrass regularly can help to detoxify your body. It have cholesterol-lowering properties and it improves digestion as well. Lemongrass can help improve mood and helps reduce stress. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of the addition of lemongrass powder to coffee powder on nutritional level and cappuccino has been made with this blend at different levels to analyse sensory characteristics.

Cappuccino is a worldwide popular drink with a very high position in the market of coffee-based beverages. Lemongrass was incorporated into the coffee powder at levels 0%, 5%, 10% and 15%. The proximate analysis was done for moisture, ash, crude fiber and fat. The DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) assay was used to evaluate the anti-oxidant capacity of the blend and the presence of phytochemicals was also assessed using individual detection methods of each. The moisture content was 7.1%, ash content was 7.3%, crude fibre was 7.4% and fat was 0.927%. The phytochemicals like alkaloids, tannin, saponin, Terpenoid and flavonoid were found in the sample. DPPH radical scavenging for T3 was found to be 92.35±0.65%.

T3(15%) sample has got the highest score in sensory evaluation when conducted by making cappuccino and also showed most enhancement in nutritional qualities as well. T3 sample was found the best composition for the lemongrass and coffee blend.