Production of Fermented Tea from a Variety of Sources as A Soft Functional Beverage

With the global trend of different hospitality venues providing natural foods and beverages to support the immunity of the guests, fermented tea (kombucha tea) comes as one of these beverages. Kombucha tea is a refreshing beverage that is widely consumed around the world. It has anti-oxidant and anti-bacterial properties.In this study, kombucha tea was produced using extracts of some herbs such as black tea, green tea, mint, anise, roselle, and ginger, which are commonly used as natural herbal beverages. Whereas a significant decrease in the pH of all samples occurred as a result of the fermentation processes and the percentage decrease ranged between 60.4% to 70.4%, except for the fermented ginger beverage. The content of antioxidants and total phenols of these beverages was studied, and it was found that antioxidants increased by rates ranging from 28.56% to 54.17% compared to natural beverages without fermentation, and the rosellebeverage recorded the highest percentage in the increase, as well as high percentages of total phenols were obtained with increased rates ranging between 21.73 % to 31.49%, and mint beverage recorded the highest percentage of increase in phenols, while the lowest percentage change was recorded for a ginger beverage about both antioxidants and total phenols.The antibacterial activity of different kombuchabeverages was studied through its effect on the growth of pathogenic microbes and it was found that the most effective effect of these beverages was on bothEscherichia coli& Salmonella enteritidis.The beverages that most affected the growth of these microbes were rosellebeverages and green tea.Finally, a sensory evaluation was conducted for the produced beverages, and the mint beverage obtained the highest sensory evaluation for each of the taste, aroma, color, and general acceptance.From the above, it is clear that the health benefits of kombuchabeverages are increased and considered functional beverages due to their high content of antioxidants and total phenols and the ability of most of them to act as antimicrobials.Accordingly, we recommend the inclusion of kombuchabeverages as functional beverages in various hospitality places in Egypt, especially in light of the spread of epidemics worldwide.