Biotechnology Letters, Vol.18, No.2, 139-142, 1996
Characterization of the Tea Fungus Metabolites
The tea fungus (commonly designed as "kombucha") is a symbiotic culture of at least three microorganisms : the acetic acid bacteria Acetobacter xylinum and two yeasts Zygosaccharomyces rouxii and Candida sp. in sugared tea (Hesseltine, 1965; Anonymous, 1983). These microorganisms were cultured in their traditional medium and several metabolites were identified and quantified : ethanol, lactic, acetic, gluconic and glucuronic acids. The antibacterial product known as usnic acid was also searched.