the library

Kombucha

Savory & ferment· ferment vinegar

What it is

Kombucha is a fermented tea made by adding a SCOBY culture of bacteria and yeast to sugared tea and letting it ferment.

What it tastes like

On the nose: fatty, wintergreen, rose, spicy. Among its measured molecules: pelargonic acid, myristic acid, alpha-farnesene, methyl salicylate, 4-ethylguaiacol.

Every one of its 13 compounds carries a paper the library can cite.

• acetic acidaromaacidreads as pungent (PubChem)Measured in 37 of 341 ingredients.cite

  quantified in the drink by spectrophotometry: 'starting from 0.63 ± 0.07 g/L at the initial stage to reach 8.42 ± 1.03 g/L at the final stage'; the dominant organic acid of the fermentation — Suffys et al. 2023, Foods (Section 3.1.2 (Carbohydrate, Alcohol, and Acid Concentration Kinetics during Kombucha Fermentation), text)
• lactic acidtasteacidreads as mild, sourMeasured in 8 of 341 ingredients.cite

  measured in the drink but small: 'ranging from 0.05 to 0.06 ± 0.00 g/L for the initial and final stages'; the paper concludes 'lactic acid is therefore less produced compared to acetic acid' — Suffys et al. 2023, Foods (Section 3.1.2 text)
• palmitic acidacidreads as taste (PubChem)Measured in 11 of 341 ingredients.cite

  OAV above 1 in the drink from D0 to D11 (1.07, 1.30, 3.13, 1.57, 1.34, 1.31), threshold 75 ppm — Suffys et al. 2023, Foods (Table 2, row A3 'hexadecanoic acid')
• methyl salicylatearomaesterreads as liquid the wintergreen (PubChem)Measured in 11 of 341 ingredients.cite

  OAV 1.72 at D0 against a 10 ppm threshold — Suffys et al. 2023, Foods (Table 2, row D1 'methyl 2-hydroxybenzoate')
• phenylethyl alcoholaromaalcoholreads as sharp burning taste (PubChem)Measured in 42 of 341 ingredients.cite

  'Major alcohols metabolized during fermentation are 2-phenylethanol and 3-methylbutan-1-ol, reaching 273.15 ± 2.16 and 113.39 ± 8.02 ppm at the final fermentation stage' — Suffys et al. 2023, Foods (Section 3.2.1 text)
• linaloolaromaalcoholreads as spicy, citrus taste (PubChem)Measured in 91 of 341 ingredients.cite

  present through the fermentation series in ppm — Suffys et al. 2023, Foods (Table 1 (Volatile organic compounds contents (ppm) with kombucha fermentation time), row 'linalool')
• p-cymenearomaterpenoidMeasured in 42 of 341 ingredients.cite

  'Terpene synthesis by diverse yeast taxa at the beginning of fermentation is again highlighted here, through the highest aroma perception of α-farnesene and p-cymene at D4 and D2, respectively.' — Suffys et al. 2023, Foods (Section 3.2.2 text)
• pelargonic acidaromaacidreads as fatty (PubChem)Measured in 6 of 341 ingredients.cite

  OAV above 1 from D2 to D11 (1.44, 1.82, 1.37, 1.48, 1.39), threshold 10 ppm — Suffys et al. 2023, Foods (Table 2, row A4 'nonanoic acid')
• myristic acidaromaacidMeasured in 6 of 341 ingredients.cite

  OAV 1.86 at D4, its only value above threshold in the drink; threshold 35 ppm — Suffys et al. 2023, Foods (Table 2, row A5 'tetradecanoic acid')
• isoamyl alcoholaromaalcoholMeasured in 46 of 341 ingredients.cite

  one of the two 'major alcohols metabolized during fermentation', reaching 113.39 ± 8.02 ppm at the final stage — Suffys et al. 2023, Foods (Section 3.2.1 text)
• 4-ethylguaiacolaromaphenolMeasured in 11 of 341 ingredients.cite

  absent from both raw teas; OAV rises with fermentation to 1.03 (D7), 1.03 (D9) and 1.08 (D11) — Suffys et al. 2023, Foods (Table 2, row E1 '4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol')
• geraniolaromaalcoholreads as sweet rose (PubChem)Measured in 26 of 341 ingredients.cite

  named with linalool as the domination of the initial stage's 'citrus-floral-sweet, and orange notes' — Suffys et al. 2023, Foods (Section 3.2.2 text)
• alpha-farnesenearomaterpenoidMeasured in 8 of 341 ingredients.cite

  'stages D2-D4 fermentation brings intense citrus-herbal-lavender-bergamot notes (synthesis of α-farnesene)' — Suffys et al. 2023, Foods (Section 3.2.2 text)