Courtesy of Jason Briscoe
Originally published on July 19, 2021 6:00 am
Oregon was home to one of the first kombucha brands in the United States and has since maintained its status as a leader in the $1.4 billion global industry. Local outfits such as Tualatin-based Brew Dr., Bend-based Humm and Portland’s Kombucha Wonder Drink are some of the top brands around.
Now researchers in the state are making their own mark on the kombucha landscape by starting to solve one of the mysteries surrounding the fizzy, vinegary, fermented tea: what exactly gives it its distinctive flavors?
“Compared to other fermentation systems … there’s much more variability in what can carry out the fermentation than say beer or wine, where it’s pretty much carried out by the same organism every time,” said Chris Curtin, a fermentation microbiologist at Oregon State University.