FERMENTED ASHITABA TEA LEAVES AS A NUTRITIOUS BEVERAGES: A PRODUCT INNOVATION

In Industrial Revolution 4.0 era, a company needs to have a sustainable competitive advantage due to the intense and rapid competition. The customers are very demanding for a health-promoting beverage with improved functionality, so developing products capability as an innovation strategy can increase competitiveness. Ashitaba (Japanese celery plant) is a herbal plant that has many benefits to relieve diabetes, heart disease, and other diseases. Fermentation process had increased the health benefits and the pleasant flavour of beverage. Quality fermented beverage product contains antioxidant and sensory as fermented ashitaba tea leaves was evaluated then compare with the original. Key Performances Indicators/KPIs represents an important tool for assuring that the objectives of innovation are optimized. For the result, final fermented beverages called a Kombucha, has higher antioxidant capacity than Ashitaba tea leaves. The production of organic acids and metabolic compound has decreased the bitterness, increased sweetness, and increased appearance of fermented ashitaba leaves tea compare with ashitaba leaves tea. Fermenting ashitaba tea leaves can improve the product quality and acceptability.