FERMENTATION PROCESS OF KOMBUCHA UNDER DIFFERENT TEMPERATURE CONDITIONS

Kombucha is considered the fastest growing beverage on the market. Its low alcohol content makes it one of the most popular in the world, however the lack of standardization (temperature, ingredients, fermentation time, inoculum used) give kombucha very different properties. In this sense, the objective of this study was to monitor the physicochemical changes of kombucha during the first fermentation at room temperature (TA) and at controlled temperature (TC). To make the traditional kombucha, without flavoring, 01 (one) liter of water was heated until boiling, and then 7% sugar and 0.5% Camellia sinensis leaves (L.) present in the green tea of the Amaya teas brand were added, with slow stirring and infusion for five minutes. Then, the infusion was strained, using voile fabric, directly into a plastic pot with a capacity of 3 L, and 1.5L of cold filtered water was added to stabilize the temperature at 35 °C and 6% of the Starter tea. The samples were divided into equal volumes and packed in two plastic jars with a capacity of 3L and then the SCOBYS were added. The pots were covered with voile to provide an aerobic environment.  The CT sample was placed in a thermotized water bath at a temperature of 28 ± 2 ºC and the TA sample was kept at room temperature. The TC and TA samples were monitored daily for the variables of pH, titratable acidity (TA), luminosity (L*) and soluble solids (SS), until pH 2.9 was reached