Evolution of Kombucha Tea from Isolated Acetic Acid Bacteria, Lactic Acid Bacteria and Yeast in Single- and Mixed-Cultures: Characteristics, Bioactivities, Fermentation Performance and Kinetics

ABSTRACT

In this study, three microbial isolates from kombucha (Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Komagataeibacter saccharivorans, and Levilactobacillus brevis) were used as single- and mixed-inoculum to produce kombucha. During 18-day fermentation, phenolic content was shown to rise from 621.4–633.1 to 817.8–937.7 mg/L while DPPH radical scavenging and ferric reducing activities reached their peaks (1191.3–1343.3 and 742.9–837.9 mg/L, respectively) at day 2–8 and constantly declined throughout the remaining days. Higher sugar concentration and longer fermentation time also resulted in greater antibacterial activity, particularly against Gram-positive bacteria. Regarding bacterial cellulose productivity, 50 g/L glucose was proven to be the effective concentration regardless of microbial combinations with the maximum yield of 193.3–263.9 g/L. A close interaction was seen between S. cerevisiae and K. saccharivorans, while L. brevis exhibited limited interaction with others. Therefore, the application of single culture of K. saccharivorans, or its mixed-culture with S. cerevisiae is considered a feasible approach to control Kombucha quality.

KEYWORDS:

• Kombucha
• microbial isolate
• fermentation kinetics
• antioxidant activity
• antibacterial activity

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Nguyen Tat Thanh University for permission and for providing facilities during the research period.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/08905436.2024.2306505