In the past few years, kombucha has gone from being a niche drink to a health craze and a billion-dollar industry. But the tangy taste isn’t popular with everyone, and it’s not clear exactly how good it is for you. A team of researchers from Brazil thought there should be a way to improve kombucha’s taste profile and even its health properties — with fruit juice.

The flavorful drink

Kombucha is a fermented beverage that’s been consumed in southeast Asia for thousands of years. It’s traditionally brewed from sweetened green or black tea using a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeasts (SCOBY). It’s cherished for its probiotic qualities and potential health benefits, including antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects. Thanks to this (and a bit of clever marketing) kombucha has become popular worldwide.

The fermentation process transforms the sugars into organic acids, ethanol, and various bioactive compounds. These include polyphenols, vitamins, and probiotics. Given its rich nutrient profile and probiotic properties, kombucha has been linked to positive health outcomes, such as improved digestion and immune support. The jury is still out on just how good kombucha is for you. But in the meantime, the drink is just becoming more and more popular.

However, kombucha’s taste is often polarizing due to the complex and unexpected flavors created during its fermentation process. One of the main reasons is its pronounced acidity. As kombucha ferments, the SCOBY converts sugars into organic acids, primarily acetic acid, which gives the drink its tangy or sour flavor. While some people enjoy this tartness, finding it refreshing, others find the sharpness overwhelming or unpleasant.

What if we made kombucha differently?

Few studies have investigated whether liquids other than tea could serve as the brewing base for kombucha-type beverages. So, Socorro Vanesca, Frota Gaban, and their colleagues at the Federal University of Ceara, put that to the test. Instead of tea, they fermented antioxidant-rich apple and passion fruit juices with a SCOBY to find out.

In addition to assessing the taste, aroma, and texture, the research focused on the chemical properties and bioactive composition of the resulting kombucha. This included analyzing factors like total acidity, sugar content, alcohol levels, and pH, which influence the fermentation process and the resulting flavor profile.

In the study, the fruit juice kombucha-like beverages, particularly those made with passion fruit (PFKLB) and apple (AKLB), were compared to traditional kombucha made from Camellia sinensis tea (the plant that produces both black and green tea).

In terms of acidity, both the passion fruit juice and the apple juice were more acidic than regular kombucha. They also had a significantly higher alcohol content. Whereas traditional kombucha’s alcohol content is usually around 0.5% or below, apple kombucha had 1.6% and passion fruit kombucha had 6.2% — more than most beers.

However, the apple beverage had the highest level of flavonoids, one of the healthy compounds in kombucha. Furthermore, the apple beverage had comparable levels of phenolic compounds to regular kombucha. All three brews had similar amounts of anthocyanin, another key antioxidant.

A better beverage?

The passion fruit beverage ultimately didn’t seem like a winner, but the apple kombucha seemed promising. If its alcohol content could be reduced, then it could be a real health competitor for kombucha.

The researchers also had 12 volunteers taste the drinks and evaluate each beverage’s color, aroma, and flavor. Although the passion fruit beverage had an intriguing flavor, the volunteers equally picked the apple and regular kombucha as their favorites.

The research suggests that there’s a lot of room for innovation when it comes to kombucha. There are numerous avenues for creating kombucha-like beverages that cater to different consumer preferences while retaining the functional properties of traditional kombucha. Perhaps, these new beverages could be even healthier and more popular than the original ones.

Researchers now want to carry out similar tests with other fruits.

Journal Reference: Soraya Ferreira da Silva et al, Physicochemical Properties, Antioxidant Activity, and Sensory Profiles of Kombucha and Kombucha-Like Beverages Prepared Using Passion Fruit (Passiflora edulis) and Apple (Malus pumila), ACS Agricultural Science & Technology (2024). DOI: 10.1021/acsagscitech.4c00372