Skip to main content
Log in

The evaluation of chemical, antioxidant, antimicrobial and sensory properties of kombucha tea beverage

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Journal of Food Science and Technology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to determine the chemical composition (organic acids—acetic, tartaric, citric; sugars—sucrose, glucose, fructose; total acidity, alcohol content, pH—with FTIR instrument; content of selected mineral compounds—AAS instrument), antioxidant activity, antimicrobial activity and sensory profiles of prepared kombucha tea beverage. Black tea with white sugar as a substrate for kombucha beverage was used as a control sample. The dominant organic acid in kombucha tea beverage was acetic acid (1.55 g/L), followed by tartaric and citric acids. The sucrose (17.81 g/L) was the dominant sugar from detected sugars. Antioxidant activity of beverage tested by reducing power method (1318.56 mg TEAC/L) was significantly higher (p < 0.05) in comparison with black tea (345.59 mg TEAC/L). The same tendency was observed for total polyphenol content which was significantly higher (p < 0.05) in kombucha beverage (412.25 mg GAE/L) than in black tea (180.17 mg GAE/L). Among mineral compounds, the amount of manganese (1.57 mg/L) and zinc (0.53 mg/L) was the highest in kombucha tea beverage. Results of antimicrobial activity of kombucha tea beverage showed strong inhibition of Candida krusei CCM 8271 (15.81 mm), C. glabrata CCM 8270 (16 mm), C. albicans CCM 8186 (12 mm), C. tropicalis CCM 8223 (14 mm), Haemophilus influenzae CCM 4454 (10 mm) and Escherichia coli CCM 3954 (4 mm). Sensory properties of prepared beverage were evaluated overall as good with the best score in a taste (pleasant fruity-sour taste). The consumption of kombucha tea beverage as a part of drinking mode of consumers due to health benefits is recommended.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (2007) Public health statement lead. U.S. Departament of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service. Retrieved June 11, 2017, from https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/ToxProfiles/tp13-c1-b.pdf

  • Aidoo E (2015) Studies on the cytotoxicity and antioxidant activity of tea kombucha. Dissertation work, University of Ghana. 2015. 65 pp

  • Amarasinghe H, Weerakkody NS, Waisundaza VY (2018) Evaluation of physicochemical properties and antioxidant activities of kombucha “tea fungus”. Food Sci Nutr 6:659–665

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Battikh H, Chaieb K, Bakhrouf A, Ammar E (2013) Antibacterial and antifungal activities of black and green kombucha teas. J Food Biochem 37:231–236

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bauer-Petrovska B, Petrushevska-Tori L (2000) Mineral and water soluble vitamin content in the kombucha drink. Int J Food Sci Technol 36:201–205

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chen C, Liu BY (2000) Changes in major components of tea fungus metabolites during prolonged fermentation. J Appl Microbiol 89:834–839

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Essawet NA, Cvetkovic D, Velicanski A, Čanadanovič-Brunet J, Vulic J, Maksimovic V, Markov S (2015) Polyphenols and antioxidant activities of kombucha beverage enriched with coffeeberry extract. Chem Ind Chem Eng Q 21:399–409

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Filippis F, Troise AD, Vitaglione P, Ercolini D (2018) Different temperatures select distinctive acetic acid bacteria species and promotes organic acids production during kombucha tea fermentation. Food Microbiol 73:11–16

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fu C, Yan F, Cao Z, Xie F, Lin J (2017) Antioxidant activities of kombucha prepared from three different substrates and changes in content of prebiotics during storage. Food Sci Technol 34:123–126

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jayabalan R, Marimuthu S, Swaminathan K (2007) Changes in content of organics acids and tea polyphenols during Kombucha tea fermentation. Food Chem 102:392–398

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Jayabalan R, Malbaša RV, Lončar ES, Vitas J, Sathishkumar M (2014) A review on Kombucha tea—microbiology, composition, fermentation, beneficial effects, toxicity, and tea fungus. Compr Rev Food Sci Food Saf 13:538–550

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leal JM, Suaréz LV, Jayabalan R, Oros JH, Escalante-Aburto A (2018) A review on health benefits of kombucha nutritional compounds and metabolites. CYTA: J Food 16:390–399

    Google Scholar 

  • Mamisahebei S, Khaniki GRJ, Torabian A, Nasseri S, Naddafi K (2007) Removal of arsenic from an aqueous solution by pretreated waste tea fungal biomass. Iran J Environ Health Sci Eng 4:85–92

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Neffe-Skocińska K, Sionek B, Šcibiszi I, Kolozyn-Krajewska D (2017) Acid contents and the effect of fermentation condition of kombucha tea beverage on physicochemical, microbiological and sensory properties. CYTA: J Food 15:601–607

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oyaizu M (1986) Studies on products of browning reaction-antioxidative activities of products of browning reaction prepared from glucosamine. Jpn J Nutr 44:307–314

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Prado FC, Parada J, Pandey A, Soccol CR (2008) Trends in non-dairy probiotic beverages. Food Res Int 4:111–112

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pure AE, Pure ME (2016) Antioxidant and antibacterial activity of kombucha beverages prepared using banana peel, common nettles and black tea infusions. Appl Food Biotechnol 3:125–130

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Reva ON, Zaets IE, Ovcharenko LP, Kukharenko OE, Shpylova SP, Podolich OV, Vera JP, Kozyrousa NO (2015) Metabarcoding of the kombucha microbial community grown in different microenvironments. AMB Express 5:2–8

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • SAS (2009) Users guide version 9.2 SAS/STAT (r). SAS Institute Inc., Cary

    Google Scholar 

  • Singleton VL, Rossi JA (1965) Colorimetry of total phenolics with phosphomolybdic-phosphotungstic acid reagents. Am J Enol Vitic 6:144–158

    Google Scholar 

  • Spedding G (2015) So what is kombucha? An alcoholic or a non-alcoholic beverage? A brief selected literature review and personal reflection. BDAS, LLC http://alcbevtesting.com/wpcontent/uploads/2015/06/WhatIsKombucha_BDASLLC_WPSPNo2_Oct-4-2015.pdf

  • Tu YY, Xia HL (2018) Antimicrobial activity of fermented green tea liquid. Int J Tea Sci 6:29–35

    Google Scholar 

  • Veličanski A, Cvetkovič D, Markov SL, Šaponjac VTT, Vulič JJ (2014) Antioxidant and antibacterial activity of the beverage obtained by fermentation of sweetened lemon balm (Melissa officinalis L.) tea with symbiotic consortium of bacteria and yeast. Food Technol Biotechnol 52:420–429

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Villarreal-Soto SA, Beaufort S, Bouajila J, Souchard JP, Taillandier P (2018) Understanding kombucha tea fermentation. A review. J Food Sci 83:580–588

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Vitas JS, Cvetanovic AD, Maškovič PZ, Švarc-Gajič JV, Malbaša RV (2018) Chemical composition and biological activity of novel types kombucha beverages with yarrow. J Funct Foods 44:95–102

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Watawana MI, Jayawardena N, Gunawardhana CB, Waisundara VY (2015) Health, wellness, and safety aspects of the consumption of kombucha. J Chem, 1–11

  • Ye M, Yue T, Yuan Y (2014) Evaluation of polyphenols and organic acids during the fermentation of apple cider. J Food Agric 94:2954–2957

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yuniarto A, Anggadiredja K, Aqidah RAN (2016) Antifungal activity of kombucha tea against human pathogenic fungi. J Pharm Clin Res 9:253–255

    CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work was co-funded by the European Community project no 26220220180: Building the Research Centre “AgroBioTech” (50%) and VEGA 1/0411/17 (50%).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Eva Ivanišová.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

All authors declare no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Ivanišová, E., Meňhartová, K., Terentjeva, M. et al. The evaluation of chemical, antioxidant, antimicrobial and sensory properties of kombucha tea beverage. J Food Sci Technol 57, 1840–1846 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13197-019-04217-3

Download citation

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13197-019-04217-3

Keywords

Navigation