Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A lightly sparkling beverage made by fermenting black or green tea and sugar with a culture of various bacteria and yeasts.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A fermentation of sweetened tea.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Probably from Japanese kombucha, tea made from kombu (the Japanese word perhaps being used by English speakers to designate fermented tea due to confusion or because the thick gelatinous film produced by the kombucha culture was thought to resemble seaweed) : kombu, kombu; see kombu + cha, tea; see chanoyu.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Japanese 昆布茶 (こんぶちゃ, konbucha, こぶちゃ, kobucha, "kelp tea")

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Examples

  • Whatever it is, kombucha is entering a renaissance after millennia of use in China and centuries in Eastern Europe, from whence all good fermented things come.

    Boing Boing 2007

  • AUSTIN, Texas mdash; Whole Foods is removing a fermented, sweetened tea called kombucha from its shelves because of concerns over slightly elevated alcohol levels.

    Whole Foods Pulls Kombucha Drinks From Stores 2010

  • AUSTIN, Texas — Whole Foods is removing a fermented, sweetened tea called kombucha from its shelves because of concerns over slightly elevated alcohol levels.

    Whole Foods Pulls Kombucha Drinks From Stores 2010

  • Thursday, June 17, 2010 at 3: 33 p.m. AUSTIN, Texas - Whole Foods is removing a fermented, sweetened tea called kombucha from its shelves because of concerns over slightly elevated alcohol levels.

    Fore, right! 2010

  • Apparently there's been some brouhaha on the national level about elevated alcohol levels in some kombucha, which is generally known to carry trace amounts of alcohol due to the fermentation process.

    News 2010

  • AUSTIN, Texas - Whole Foods is removing a fermented, sweetened tea called kombucha from its shelves because of concerns over slightly elevated alcohol levels.

    The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com 2010

  • AUSTIN, Texas - AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - Whole Foods is removing a fermented, sweetened tea called kombucha from its shelves because of concerns over slightly elevated alcohol levels.

    Ventura County Star Stories 2010

  • Don't buy it if: You think "duck egg" is a warning and a "kombucha" is an NJS keirin frame.

    Warming the Cockles: Living, Breathing, Shopping BikeSnobNYC 2010

  • Stylish Mama Charon is a stylist and arts impresario with a ready bowl of kombucha.

    Gordy Grundy: The Artist's Time and Place in Echo Park Gordy Grundy 2011

  • Stylish Mama Charon is a stylist and arts impresario with a ready bowl of kombucha.

    Gordy Grundy: The Artist's Time and Place in Echo Park Gordy Grundy 2011

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