RESEARCH ON SELECTING SYMBIOTIC MICROORGANISMS AS STARTER CULTURE SOURCES FOR FERMENTATION  OF KOMBUCHA TEA

Hà Thị Quyến; Chu Đức Hà

doi:10.34238/tnu-jst.12917

RESEARCH ON SELECTING SYMBIOTIC MICROORGANISMS AS STARTER CULTURE SOURCES FOR FERMENTATION OF KOMBUCHA TEA

About this article

Received: 29/05/25 Revised: 30/10/25 Published: 31/10/25

Authors

1. Ha Thi Quyen , VNU University of Engineering and Technology
2. Chu Duc Ha, VNU University of Engineering and Technology

Abstract

This study aims to select symbiotic microorganisms capable of fermenting sweet tea. From isolated microorganisms, QS1, QS6, and QS7 strains exhibited the best sugar fermentation capability. QA1, QA4, and QA5 strains grew and reduced pH the fastest in culture medium containing a high alcohol concentration. QL2, QL3, and QL5 strains grew and reduced pH the fastest in culture medium. Symbiotic microorganisms consisting of 3 strains belonging to the three above- mentioned groups were created randomly to ferment sweet tea. The results showed that the microorganisms consisting of QS7+QA1+QL3 had the fastest ability to reduce pH and Brix in sweet tea, and the fermented tea water had the highest microbial density even when the pH in the tea water was very low. Strain QS7 was identified as belonging to Sacharomyces cerevisiae, strain QA1 belonging to Komagataeibacter xylinus and strain QL3 belonging to Lactobacillus acidophilus. These strains were stored for developing a starter culture to be easy for fermentation of Kombucha.

Keywords

Kombucha; Fermented tea; Sacharomyces cerevisiae; Komagataeibacter xylinus; Lactobacillus acidophilus

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.34238/tnu-jst.12917

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