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What is kombucha.
Kombucha is a drink that is made by inoculating sweet tea with a kombucha culture and letting it ferment for a period.
It is almost invariably bottled unpasteurized, and thus served as an active microbiotic culture. As a raw food, it has been both applauded as a living panacea and condemned as a toxic threat. Additionally, various health benefits have been attributed to the chemical components of kombucha.
In academic studies, health claims about kombucha have been defended, skepticised, and condemned. (Bauer-Petrovska & Petrushevska-Tozi, Ahmed and Dirar, Wound Botulism, and many others).
Material considerations.
Regarding kombucha's physical composition, it is useful to think of it as two separate things: a beverage, and a microbiotic culture.
As a beverage, it is generally considered an acquired taste, and a rather peculiar one at that. A good brew will not taste like and of its original ingredients; it is distinct in itself. Made at home, flavors often vary from one batch to another. That said, four main tastes characterise kombucha:
- the sweetness of sugar,
- sourness of vinegar,
- light dryness of wine,
- and a varying and nuanced savour.
A kombucha culture is comprised of many specific varieties of yeast and bacteria, which are nourished by the ingreadients of sweet tea. The different varieties of bacteria and yeast in kombucha feed on different nutrients respectively, and from their metabolic processes, each variety will produce its own specific combination of by-products. Different microorganisms in kombucha often benefit from one another's by-products; thus, they are in a symbiotic relationship.
Terminology.
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