Microbial and chemical analysis of commercial kombucha products purchased in US supermarkets.
The purpose of this study was to identify which bacterial and/or fungal species contribute to the high ethanol contents of commercial kombucha. We analyzed 47 commercial kombucha products (samples) purchased at supermarkets near Cornell University in Ithaca, NY, USA. We analyzed samples via HPLC, microbial load determination, and next-generation amplicon sequencing of the bacterial and fungal populations of those products.