Abstract
Tea and coffee have various biological properties including antimicrobial activity against. human pathogens. Green tea and black tea were collected, and extracts were obtained using different solvents. These extracts were tested for their antimicrobial activity against human test pathogens using well-diffusion and disc-diffusion methods. The extracts were than subjected to partial purification by thin layer chromatography (TLC), column chromatography, and HPLC, and screened for the presence of active phytochemical compounds. The results demonstrated that the antimicrobial and antioxidant properties of the extracts from green tea performed well in all attributes, followed by black tea. The good performance of the tea extracts was primarily the result of their high polyphenol concentrations, which are present as a series of chemicals called catechins, including gallocatechin (GC), epigallocatechin (EGC), epicatechin (EC), and epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG). In conclusion, the present work, the methanolic extracts of green tea showed greater antioxidant activity compared to black tea. These purified compounds showed broad antimicrobial and antioxidant activity against all tested human pathogens and are worthy of further study.