The Science
What is Kombucha?
Kombucha is made from water, tea leaves + aromatics, a natural sugar source (ie. cane sugar, honey, coconut sugar, etc.) and a SCOBY (symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast).
After a short ferment, the yeast and bacteria consume all the sugar they desire, leaving the tea sparkling, slightly tart and full of organic-acids, vitamins and probiotic microbes.
Fresh Kombucha is then a perfect base to steep whole fruits, roots and herbs, for endless varieties of possible flavours.
Fermented Drinks
Simple ingredients, fermented. This is the way all of our favourite beverages are traditionally made. Beer, wine, kombucha, ginger beer, kefir, mead, kvass, the list goes on!
Fermentation not only helps preserve the raw ingredients used in the beverage (allowing year round consumption) it also makes them all easier for our bodies to process. With the consumption of raw ferments being the standard in human diet for so long, it's no wonder that introducing them back into our diets is having so many positive effects!
Some of the many excellent reasons to drink fermented are;
- Nearly all of the sugars will be gone - provided the ferment is healthy and allowed to proceed to completion.
- The yeast and bacteria that are still alive upon consumption will act as probiotics and help maintain a healthy gut microbiota.
- Fermentation increases the natural levels of enzymes, antioxidants and organic acids in a food or beverage - these aid in many functions of the body
- Increased levels of vitamins in the beverage; as natural by-products of the fermentation.
On top of that, a good ferment will develop the taste of your food or beverage in a way no other process can replicate.
So we have a low sugar, probiotic, gut supporting, antioxidant, preservative free, DELICIOUS beverage.
All by letting nature do her thing.
Science Research Articles
Here are some scientific research articles which could be of interest to a Kombucha enthused community. Everybody likes being better informed. This list will be updated with any new research as we discover it.
We would also love to hear about any new scientific and technical findings related to anything and everything fermentation!
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Jayabalan R., Malbasa R. V., et. al. (2014).A Review on Kombucha Tea Microbiology, Composition, Fermentation, Beneficial Effects, Toxicity, and Tea Fungus
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1541-4337.12073 - Bauer-Petrovska, B., Petruevska-Tozi, L. (1999, July 5). Mineral and Water soluble vitamin content in the Kombucha Drink
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1046/j.1365-2621.2000.00342.x
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Kapp, J. M., Sumner, W. (2019, Feb.) Kombucha: a systematic review of the empirical evidence of human health benefit
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1047279718307385#! - Gaggìa, F., Baffoni, L., Galiano, M. ( 2018, Dec 20) Kombucha Beverage from Green, Black and Rooibos Teas: A Comparative Study Looking at Microbiology, Chemistry and Antioxidant Activity.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30577416
- Sona Skrovankova, S., Sumczynski, D., Mlcek, J., et. al (2015, Oct 16)
Bioactive Compounds and Antioxidant Activity in Different Types of Berries. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4632771/
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Rahmani, A., Al Shabrmi, F. L., Aly, S. M., (2014, Jul 12) Active ingredients of ginger as potential candidates in the prevention and treatment of diseases via modulation of biological activities. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4106649/