# US 12,178,836 B2 · Kombucha natural health products > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 12,178,836 B2 - Document ID: US12178836B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 18/352,356 - Filed: 2023-07-14 - Published: 2023-11-09 - Granted: 2024-12-31 - Earliest claimed: 2021-06-14 - Assignees: Viva Naturals, Inc. - Applicants: Viva Naturals, Inc. - Inventors: Ashley Kasurak; Husayn Remtulla - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US12178836B2 ## CPC - A61K 36/82: Theaceae (Tea family), e.g. camellia - A23F 3/16: Tea extraction; Tea extracts; Treating tea extract; Making instant tea - A23F 3/22: Drying or concentrating tea extract {(A23F3/166 takes precedence)} - A23G 3/36: characterised by the composition {containing organic or inorganic compounds} - A23G 3/42: characterised by the carbohydrates used, e.g. polysaccharides (containing dairy products A23G3/46) - A23G 3/48: containing plants or parts thereof, e.g. fruits, seeds, extracts (containing gums A23G3/42) - A23G 3/50: characterised by shape, structure or physical form, e.g. products with supported structure - A23L 2/382: {fermented (fermented nut meats or seeds A23L25/40; fermented milk preparations A23C9/12; addition of bacteria for nutritional purposes A23L33/135)} - A23L 33/105: Plant extracts, their artificial duplicates or their derivatives - A23L 33/125: containing carbohydrate syrups; containing sugars; containing sugar alcohols; containing starch hydrolysates (indigestible substances A23L33/21) - A23L 33/135: Bacteria or derivatives thereof, e.g. probiotics - A23P 20/10: Coating with edible coatings, e.g. with oils or fats - A61K 9/0056: {Mouth soluble or dispersible forms; Suckable, eatable, chewable coherent forms; Forms rapidly disintegrating in the mouth; Lozenges; Lollipops; Bite capsules; Baked products; Baits or other oral forms for animals} - A61K 35/741: Probiotics (probiotic yeast, e.g. saccharomyces A61K36/06) - A61K 47/12: Carboxylic acids; Salts or anhydrides thereof - A61K 47/26: Carbohydrates, e.g. sugar alcohols, amino sugars, nucleic acids, mono-, di- or oligo-saccharides; Derivatives thereof, e.g. polysorbates, sorbitan fatty acid esters or glycyrrhizin - A61K 47/46: Ingredients of undetermined constitution or reaction products thereof, e.g. skin, bone, milk, cotton fibre, eggshell, oxgall or plant extracts - A23V 2002/00: Food compositions, function of food ingredients or processes for food or foodstuffs - A61K: PREPARATIONS FOR MEDICAL, DENTAL OR TOILETRY PURPOSES (devices or methods specially adapted for bringing pharmaceutical products into particular physical or administering forms A61J3/00; chemical aspects of, or use of materials for deodorisation of air, for disinfection or sterilisation, or for bandages, dressings, absorbent pads or surgical articles A61L; soap compositions C11D) - A23F: COFFEE; TEA; THEIR SUBSTITUTES; MANUFACTURE, PREPARATION, OR INFUSION THEREOF - A23G: COCOA; COCOA PRODUCTS, e.g. CHOCOLATE; SUBSTITUTES FOR COCOA OR COCOA PRODUCTS; CONFECTIONERY; CHEWING GUM; ICE-CREAM; PREPARATION THEREOF - A23L: FOODS, FOODSTUFFS OR NON-ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; PREPARATION OR TREATMENT THEREOF (preservation thereof A23B) - A23P: SHAPING OR WORKING OF FOODSTUFFS, NOT FULLY COVERED BY A SINGLE OTHER SUBCLASS - A23V: INDEXING SCHEME RELATING TO FOODS, FOODSTUFFS OR NON-ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES AND LACTIC OR PROPIONIC ACID BACTERIA USED IN FOODSTUFFS OR FOOD PREPARATION ## Abstract Kombucha tea faces many challenges concerning its use for its health benefits, such as standardization, as well as the determination of a specific dosage form appropriate to the intended use. Kombucha tea, as a fermented, alcohol-containing beverage that relies on a complex combination of living yeast and bacteria for production, is especially difficult to administer. The present invention provides a consistent, standardized dosage form and novel combinations of a traditional medicinal drink that is otherwise unsuitable for widespread natural medicine. By providing kombucha as a soft, chewable and orally dissolvable and/or disintegrable compositions, such as a gummie, a gummie with probiotics, or a gummy made from tapioca syrup, a unique, desirable flavor and mouthfeel is obtained and which is also alcohol free. This expands the number of people who can enjoy the benefits of the traditional tea. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A method for producing a soft, chewable and orally dissolvable and/or disintegrable composition comprising: providing tapioca, a bacterial and yeast treated tea powder, a biopolymer, and at least 2% by weight of a sugar; mixing the tapioca, bacterial and yeast treated tea powder, the biopolymer, and the at least 2% by weight of the sugar with a suitable amount of water so as to dissolve at least the sugar and the biopolymer in the water to provide a flowable mixture; and allowing the flowable mixture to gel so as to form the soft, chewable and orally dissolvable and/or disintegrable composition. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the bacterial and yeast treated tea powder is a kombucha powder. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the bacterial and yeast treated tea powder is provided having a mesh size of less than a 50 mesh. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the bacterial and yeast treated tea powder is provided having a mesh size of less than a 200 mesh. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the bacterial and yeast treated tea powder is provided having a mesh size of less than a 400 mesh. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the biopolymer is gellan gum, konjac gum, modified starch, pectin, carrageenan, guar gum, xanthan gum, locust bean gum, agar, gum Arabic, alginate, gelatin, cellulose, or combinations thereof. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the tapioca includes tapioca syrup. ### Claim 8 (depends on 7) The method of claim 7, wherein the tapioca syrup comprises about 20% to about 70% by weight of the flowable mixture. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein, in weight percent of the flowable mixture, about 1% to about 25% kombucha powder, about 1% to about 35% biopolymer, about 2% to about 60% sugar, and up to about 10% additional additives for flavor, is provided to form the flowable mixture. ### Claim 10 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising adding coffee extract, green tea extract, herbal extract, or combinations thereof, to the flowable mixture. ### Claim 11 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising adding ginger extract, or ginger powder, to the flowable mixture. ### Claim 12 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising adding cayenne extract, or cayenne powder, to the flowable mixture. ### Claim 13 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the sugar is a monosaccharide, a disaccharide, a trisaccharide, a polysaccharide, an oligosaccharide, or combinations thereof. ### Claim 14 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the sugar is fructose, glucose, xylose, sucrose, trehalose, fructan, inulins, sugar alcohols, sorbitol, xylitol, lactitol, maltitol, or combinations thereof. ### Claim 15 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the sugar is organic cane sugar. ### Claim 16 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising adding a probiotic to the flowable mixture. ### Claim 17 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising transferring the flowable mixture to a vessel for gelling so as to form the soft, chewable and orally dissolvable and/or disintegrable composition into a shape having up to about 1 inch in height, up to about 1 inch in width, and up to about 1 inch in length. ### Claim 18 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising transferring the flowable mixture to a vessel for gelling so as to form the soft, chewable and orally dissolvable and/or disintegrable composition ranges into a size from about 0.1 inch to about 0.5 inch in height, about 0.5 inch to about 1.0 inch in width and about 0.25 to about 0.5 inch in length. ### Claim 19 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising adding one or more of: (a) at least one vitamin, (b) at least one mineral, (c) at least one nutraceutical, (d) at least one amino acid, (e) at least one energizing agent, (f) at least one soothing agent, (g) at least one sweetener, (h) at least one coloring agent, (i) at least one chemesthesis agent, (j) at least one antioxidant, (k) at least one food-grade emulsifier and/or (l) at least one pH modifier, to the flowable mixture. ### Claim 20 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the biopolymer includes pectin. ### Claim 21 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising adding to the flowable mixture about 1 to about 5 weight % of flavor beads comprising a solid, liquid, or gel center and a hard outer coating, the flavor beads having a diameter of about 0.5 mm to about 4 mm. ### Claim 22 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising providing a hard outer coating comprising a polymeric coating to the soft, chewable and orally dissolvable and/or disintegrable composition. ### Claim 23 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the biopolymer is derived from non-animal sources. ### Claim 24 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising adding a probiotic to the flowable mixture. ### Claim 25 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the tapioca includes tapioca powder. ### Claim 26 (depends on 25) The method of claim 25, wherein the tapioca powder comprises about 20% to about 70% by weight of the flowable mixture. ### Claim 27 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the tapioca is tapioca syrup and the composition comprises about 50% tapioca syrup, 21% by weight sugar, 17% by weight water, 2% by weight flavor, 2% by weight pectin, 2% by weight buffering agent or base, 5% by weight kombucha powder, and color. ### Claim 28 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the tapioca is tapioca powder and the composition comprises about 50% tapioca powder, 21% by weight sugar, 17% by weight water, 2% by weight flavor, 2% by weight pectin, 2% by weight buffering agent or base, 5% by weight kombucha powder, and color. ### Claim 29 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the composition comprises tapioca syrup, cane sugar, water, flavor, pectin, citric acid, kombucha powder, sodium citrate, and a coloring agent. ### Claim 30 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the composition comprises tapioca powder, cane sugar, water, flavor, pectin, citric acid, kombucha powder, sodium citrate, and a coloring agent.