Team:Austin UTexas/HP/Gold
Human Practices Gold
The Kombucha industry is prominent in Austin, Texas because of the beverage's supposed health benefits. There are a number of local brands including Buddha’s Brew, Wunder-Pilz, Kosmic Kombucha, Live Soda Kombucha, and K-Tonic. We reached out to the companies to learn more about the Kombucha industry and what characteristics they would want to see in designer Kombucha. We met with an owner of a Kombucha company who discussed his company with us and signed non-disclosure and non-compete agreements with him. We learned about how the company produces its Kombucha and the challenges they face. Through engaging with the industry, we learned about problems with controlling the level of ethanol in the Kombucha and that GMOs would not be the ideal way to make designer Kombucha. Because of this, we are looking into alternate strains of bacteria that don’t produce as much ethanol.
