'Booch News

Honey Islam authored the recent 3-part Guest Post on Booch News How the New Indian Government Tax Reform Punishes Beverage Startups, which raised concerns about a 40% tax the Indian Government plans to impose on kombucha. This Profile and podcast interview tells the story of her company.

Origins

The story of Mountain Bee Kombucha began in 2016, at the very first Serendipity Arts Festival in Goa. What started as a much-needed break from work became a turning point. At a workshop at the festival, Honey Islam, the founder of Mountain Bee Kombucha, first learned about what she...

Ezhil Mathy discovered kombucha in 2022 and started brewing small batches in her kitchen. She was guided by the recipes in Hannah Crum’s Big Book of Kombucha that she customized for the Indian palate. In May, 2024 she announced on Instagram that Dramila Kombucha was available in Chennai cafes and restaurants. She’s now outgrown her kitchen and ferments in 10 L glass jars in a dedicated space. She is a one-person artisanal producer.

Chennai is one of India’s main cities with a population over over 12 million in the metro area. This makes it the fifth largest in the co...

MAVI’s Pantry is a homegrown artisanal fermented food and beverage brand which makes gut-friendly functional products like kombucha, kimchi, kvas, ginger ale, kanji, and sauerkraut using local, seasonal and organic ingredients. They started with kombucha and it still is their flagship product.

MAVI’s is named after Masahi and her husband Vikram (MA+VI) who started out making kombucha in their home kitchen. They began selling at local farmers’ markets, where they sold out on their first day. Since launching the business in 2017 they have seen steadily increasing demand and now have a team of twelve.

An attendee at the Stanford Fermented Food Conference I wanted to meet was Aga Pokrywka the host of Ferment Radio, a fascinating and informative podcast series that began back in 2020 and has posted almost 50 episodes. You can find it wherever you get your podcasts.

It’s a podcast with a noble mission:

Ferment Radio is a podcast series that takes you deep into the fascinating world of microbes. Through fermentation and transformation, we develop new recipes for living on a broken planet. Together with people from the most diverse backgrounds, including science, gastronomy, and arts, we...

The two-day conference wrapped up Friday afternoon with a Fermentation Festival where attendees gathered in the courtyard of the Clark Center to sample food and beverages from a variety of vendors.

Attendee Impressions

I asked some of the attendees to share their impressions of the conference.

The best thing about this conference is… it’s the most interesting conference I’ve ever been to, and that says enough.

The best thing about this conference so far has definitely just been the interchange of ideas between everyone. It’s good to see a w...

Mikaela Kasperek is a registered dietician with a PhD in nutritional sciences. Her research focuses on the health benefits of fermented foods, focusing on the role of microbial metabolites, particularly aryl-lactates. While existing evidence suggests fermented foods are beneficial (e.g., reduced inflammation, lower type 2 diabetes risk), the mechanisms remain unclear.

Her presentation at the Stanford Fermented Food Conference was titled ‘Harnessing Microbial Metabolites in Fermented Foods to Improve Health‘. It addressed ways to increase the health benefits of fermented foods by adding specific compounds.

Kasperek’s work highlights lactic acid bacteria (LAB) as key produc...

As with all foods, kombucha brewers are legally required to include nutritional information on their bottles and cans. The labels allow us to see the amount of calories and sugar in each brand. Fermented beverages like kefir and kombucha will often mention “gut health” or probiotic content. At the recent Stanford University Fermented Food Conference I spoke with two scientists about the accuracy, and even legality, of these claims.

When “Added Sugar” disclosures don’t add up

Breanna Metras has studied the nutrient quality and microbial contents of commercially fermented beverages in the United States. Sugar-swee...

At the end of Day One of the Conference, after listening to more than a dozen experts offer insights into everything from the ways red ants are used as a traditional yogurt starter in rural Turkey, to why gastrophagy was an essential element in the Indigenous Greenlandic diet, and everything in between, it isn’t easy to report fully on all I’ve learned.

However, a chance meeting over lunch, followed by a fascinating conceptual poster explanation, focused on kombucha. So, here’s a quick sample of the eclectic variety of topics addressed by attendees at the event...

I met her in a club down in old Soho
Where you drink champagne and it tastes like Coca-Cola
C-O-L-A, Cola

— Lola, The Kinks

Pascal Du Bois has been a fan of kombucha for many years, from the days when his French father made it when he was a boy. When his own daughter, Eloise was diagnosed with celiac disease he started making it at home. Now, 15 years later, he has launched ROBOT Kombucha, “The World’s Healthiest Cola”, sporting a name and branding designed to appeal to the youth market, but with multi-ge...

The UK’s original kombucha label, GO Kombucha, is up for sale. I first came across the brand back in November 2018 when I visited Liverpool. In October 2023, I interviewed founder Gary Leigh . You can find more information about the company’s background and history on the GO Kombucha website.

Founder, Gary Leigh, writes:

After 22-plus years paving the way and setting the standard for authentic kombucha tea sold commercially throughout the UK, the time feels right for me to move on to new challenges and adventures.

I am delighted to say that I will...

Kombucha connoisseur Susanna Danieli recently visited her native Italy and reported on the thriving kombucha scene there. She added a number of reviews of Italian brands to her excellent Instagram channel. The new brands that she discovered have been added to the Booch News Worldwide Directory. Now she’s back Stateside in Brooklyn she sat down with Booch News to share her impressions.

Compared to the last time I was in Italy, before I moved here to New York, it was May 2024. And so this was the first time I came back to Italy after moving here. An...

We first reported on Keg Outlet in our February 2020 post Growing Beyond Home Brewing where we referenced three informative videos they had produced:

These are among the 90+ informative videos that Keg Outlet have posted to their YouTube channel. This interview with company co-founder Brandon Hanson is an update on their business and observations on the kombucha industry in general.

Keg Outlet is a small...

While visiting family in Cheshire, England, I was delighted to meet up with Charlotte, the founder of Shropshire Kombucha. We’d not been able to connect when I was last in Nantwich. But this time around, she was at the bustling end-of-month market in the town square, within sight and sound of the 14th-century St Mary’s church. The bells were ringing for weddings on a Saturday morning.

Charlotte visits Nantwich once a month and usually sells out of her 350ml and 500ml bottles of a variety of flavors. Regular customers place orders for up to 15 bottles at a...

Sambucha Kombucha is located in Pangbourne, near Reading, England on the banks of the River Thames.

It is a “hobby turned full-time job” for Sam May, who moved from California to the UK. The commercial operation started during lockdown and “kind of just snowballed into something a lot bigger as the years went on.”

Its production facility is an insulated shipping container:

It’s an old Waitrose freezer container that I converted myself. It’s on some certified organic land on a farm. So any fruit and veg that grows there, I tend to use as mu...

Three years ago, I visited the KC Kombucha taproom in the Oak Park neighborhood of Sacramento. News broke last week that the taproom was closing. Courtney, the founder, had sold the business to her long-time partner Michelle Grubbs.

A time of transition

Michelle has been involved with the company since 2020 and is officially taking ownership on April 1st. Our conversation covered the evolution of KC Kombucha from farmers’ markets to a taproom, and now an exclusive focus on wholesaling kegs to local businesses in the Sacramento region. A key reason for this shift is to be...

Curro Polo is currently pursuing a PhD under the Basque Culinary Center program, with the academic guidance of Harvard University The research project will take place at Ama Brewery, exploring the fascinating world of microbiology applied to beverages. We’d met at the 2024 KBI conference in Reno, Nevada, where Curro and I were both Kombucha Kup judges. At that time he was finishing up his Masters in Gastronomy and Culinary Arts at Harvard. He presented his dissertation in June, 2024.

Curro’s Master’s thesis, Kombucha: A Word on Metamorphosis, provides a comprehensive and meticulous exploration of kombucha, moving...

Jean-Pierre Parent, a yoga teacher in Portland, Oregon, noticed that, even though people often go to yoga studios for the community, many students would shyly slink away after class. In response, he began bringing his home-brew kombucha to enjoy after class. It was an instant hit, with people requesting to purchase his kombucha. SOMA Kombucha was born from this.

SOMA is Sanskrit, from the Upanishads. It means “nectar of life” and “drink of the gods”, and its root literally means distill, extract, or sprinkle. Back in the aughts I would bring my family recipe kombucha to my yoga cla...

On a recent trip to Mexico City, I met with the founders of Umani Fermentos. Our 20-minute discussion provided insights into the company’s origins, production, and distribution.

Origins

Umani was started as a side project in 2018 by three friends—Ixchel, Juan Carlos, and Jorja—who met in culinary school. They initially fermented vinegar and officially launched their kombucha in October 2019. They now sell around 8,000 cans a month to over 120 locations, primarily in Mexico City.

The name “Umani” means “to cook” in the Purépecha language from Michoacán. They chose this name to represent the...

Following my recent interview with Sally of  Burning Bloom Kombucha in Puerto Vallarta, I met Gina Méndez the founder of Kova Kombucha, a small-batch kombucha business also based in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico and Zapotlanejo, near Guadalajara. Kova is the most widely available of the three local brands, found in (among other places) Ángulo Cowork, Artisan Bakery, Lamara, Natureza, Revueltas, The Green Place, and Voltan Ramen.

Gina started Kova Kombucha out of a desire for a healthy alternative to soda: “I’m a huge fan of soda. I love the bubbles and the feeling of drinking a soda. B...

It’s been two years since I first discovered local kombucha in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. At the time I met Monica at the Elixir Spot Vegan Cafe I had not seen any others. It was only this January, when I dropped by the Puerto Cafe near the Malecon, that I stumbled across a second brand. Burning Bloom Kombucha is also available in The Green Place and Cha Cocina.

The brand

The brand name “Burning Bloom” reflects owner Sally Wells journey of personal growth and breaking free from a feeling of being trapped in a less fulfil...

This podcast interview features James, the owner of Nania’s Vineyard, a Bristol-based company producing canned English wine and kombucha. James details his journey from home winemaking to establishing a thriving, albeit small-scale, kombucha business. He explains his unique brewing process, which includes barrel fermentation and the use of hops, and discusses his search for a business partner and/or investor to expand his operations. He desires to elevate the standards of the UK kombucha market by promoting truly fermented products. Finally, he reveals the creation of a unique fermentation merit badge for local Scouts.

Nania’s Vine...

Gwen Bortner is a business advisor and operational strategist specializing in women entrepreneurs, particularly those who have turned hobbies into businesses. In a recent interview with Booch News, she detailed how her expertise can benefit women business owners in the kombucha industry. Her emphasis on context, sustainable practices, and the challenges faced by women makes her particularly well-suited to support small business owners. Her approach could help kombucha businesses scale successfully, prevent burnout, and create a long-term vision for their business. She is available for a FREE initial consultation.

Hobby-to-Business Transition

On Oct 29, 2024 Real Co Labs hosted an afternoon discussion on The Art and Science of Fermentation in London. The audio of company founder David Begg’s presentation is attached with the company’s express permission.

In this audio, David Begg, the founder of Real Co, describes his company’s innovative approach to non-alcoholic fermented beverages. Real Co uses a complex, patented process involving a diverse “spice rack” of 80 yeasts and 130 bacteria to create unique flavors in their drinks, unlike the simpler, single-strain methods of some other beverages. This process, informed by microbiology, honed through years of experimentation, focuses on...

Statistics show that 50% of small businesses failure occurs within five years. Last year, we looked at general numbers for the kombucha industry. This is the story behind one brand’s decision to move on. The goal of these features is *not* to celebrate failure but to share stories that contain lessons for others in the industry and help them avoid the same fate.

Kim Welch, the founder of Creature Craft Soda, talked with Booch News about the experience of her three-year journey operating a commercial kombucha company. Kim recounts her serendipitous discovery of using silicone bags for ko...

Statistics show that 50% of small businesses failure occurs within five years. Last year, we looked at general numbers for the kombucha industry. This is the story behind one brand’s decision to move on.

In this interview, Joshua Rood, founder of the hard kombucha company Dr Hops, discusses the challenges the company faced, including market saturation, declining product quality, and the impact of the pandemic on experiential marketing. He details the company’s national expansion strategy, its reliance on co-packers and contractors, and the financial difficulties that ultimately led to its demise. Rood reflects on the lessons lear...

This is a follow-up to the recent post about the study by the students and faculty the department of chemistry at Shippensburg University. The lead authors are Professors John Richardson and Jeb Kegerreis. They spoke with Booch News about the background and implications of their experiments suggesting that brewing kombucha in air-permeable silicone bags optimizes oxygen exposure, resulting in more efficient acid production, lower ethanol concentrations, and greater sugar utilization than kombucha brewed in jars.

Edited transcript (original audio at the bottom).

Booch News: This call was motivated by the fantastic paper you wrote Optimizing...

Last week I posted an appreciation of the Instagram of Susy Drinks Kombucha – an impressive archive of over 270 detailed reviews of commercial brands in the States and Europe. At the time I speculated that

…she grew up in northern Italy, studied craft beer making, and worked as a sommelier (hence her discriminating vocabulary about beverages). She is sober and lives in or around Brooklyn, where she reads philosophy when not picnicking in Prospect Park. She travels to Europe regularly.

I’m delighted to post this podcast interview with Susy herself: Susanna Danieli. She does indeed live i...

Edited transcript (original audio at the bottom).

Booch News: I was delighted to make contact with Caroline Gilmartin and Jo Webster, two British fermentation experts who live in the southwest of England. I’d found them on the Substack platform [subscription required – low £20 annual fee to access], which some people might be aware of, where they host two videos on kombucha posted to Booch News, which showed the varieties of commercial kombucha out there and their capability to generate new kombucha from what’s called back-slopping into the sweet tea base. We started out by talking about their f...

The 2024 KBI European Salon was held Oct 24-25 in the meeting space at the Terra Veritas organic supermarket in Barcelona, promising a “dynamic discussions surrounding the changes in the kombucha market…a landscape that is evolving rapidly, presenting both exciting opportunities and formidable challenges.” Terra Veritas posted a video of the event on their Instagram. As you can see, there were around 45 in attendance. Around half came from Europe, others from as far away as Taiwan, the UAE, and Australia.

In her welcome note printed in the conference Agenda, KBI Director Kendra Sepulveda noted:

The World...

This podcast is the result of an experiment with Google’s new generative A.I. tool NotebookLM — created “to help you make sense of complex information. When you upload your sources, it instantly becomes an expert, grounding its responses in your material with citations and relevant quotes.”

Above and beyond an impressive capacity to extract relevant bullet points from complex documents, a powerful–some might say “spooky”–feature of the software is the ability to generate audio in the form of a podcast-style discussion based on the document.

With one click, two AI bots start a lively “deep d...

Daniela Guilbert founded Bruja Sana Kombucha in 2015 after discovering the drink while living in Vancouver and visiting Northern California. On returning to Mexico, she was dismayed that kombucha was largely unavailable. A friend suggested that she start making it, and after experimenting with home brewing, she began the trial-and-error process of discovering the secrets of commercial production. At first, she was also making almond and cashew-fermented cheeses, but it quickly became a kombucha-only operation.

Bruja Sana means “Healthy Witch” – that’s “witch” as in medicine woman, not a Halloween witch.

She opened in the coastal town of Tulu...

Thierry Tran authored a 3-part series in SYMBIOSIS Magazine:

(Back copies are available to order.)

He now offers independent consulting via Transverse Consulting, contact Thierry by messaging him on his LinkedIn profile. He has published over 20 research papers on topics such as ‘Identification of Key Parameters Inducing Microbial Modulation during Backslopped Kombucha Fermentation’ and ‘Polyphenols in kombucha: Metabolomic analysis of biotransformations during fermentation’ . This edited transcript of the podcast has been included since the audio quality of the phone interview was not as clear...

On the last day of a two-week road trip from my home in the San Francisco Bay Area to Portland and back, I was fortunate to arrive in Fort Bragg when the Wednesday Farmers’ Market was on. I came across Michelle’s booth, where she was selling her fermented products.

Michelle Costa ferments kombucha, jun, kimchee, kvass, six varieties of sauerkraut, hot sauce, and other pickles in the small town of Willits, Mendocino County, California. She sells her Mendo Ferments products in markets and stores around the region. The company was founded 11 years ago.

Her jour...

It’s Alive Kombucha is located on the far north coast of California in the remote college town of Arcata. For the past 11 years, the family-owned business has supplied regular and hard kombucha to the region. They now distribute from the northern counties as far south as the San Francisco Bay Area.

The journey started in 1992 when owner Jeri started home-brewing kombucha in Big Sur, where she lived at that time. Her husband Keil was a musician, and they felt the need to live a more balanced life centered around the Arcata community. They are helped by da...

Jared Englund founded Lion Heart Kombucha 14 years ago and named the company after his son, Lev, whose name means “lion heart.” He started teaching kombucha classes in 2008 and established Lion Heart Kombucha in 2010, brewing booch at night after work. In 2015, they moved into a 6,000-square-foot facility in an industrial facility in NE Portland, where customers can collect cans or kegs, or taste a variety of flavors in their taproom sampling area. In 2020 they switched from glass bottles to 16oz cans, a change they claim makes them more sustainable and efficient. A mobile contract canning operation visits their brewery weekly and...

Michael Churchill and his wife Natalia Amijo are industrial designers living in the San Francisco Bay Area. They have employed their design chops to create KOMBU — a sleek, if pricey, appliance for home brewing kombucha. Their “Fermenstation” features a modern design that is purpose built to craft-brew kombucha. It will become available in 2025 at a price of $500 a unit.

The system comprises two compartments: a 3.5 liter (approx. a gallon) front glass jar holding starter and sweet tea where primary fermentation (F1) takes place, with a second rear container holding four bottles for flavoring and secondary fermentation (F2).

...

Julie Morrell and Ted Archuleta founded Urban Mama 505 in Albuquerque, New Mexico in June 2021. This was after a dozen years brewing kombucha at home that helped Julie resolve health issues including a brain tumor, autoimmune disorder, and fibromyalgia. Once restored to full health she moved into a commercial space in the cooperative commissary kitchen in operated by the South Valley Economic Development Center.

They now have a taproom on the iconic Route 66 as well as a bodega grocery store selling loose teas and local products including honey, baked goods, and mushroom coffee. The location is in a...

On May 17 we featured a Guest Posting by Joseph at Holos on How to make a SCOBY Leather Bag. This interview with company co-founder Naomi Partridge tells the story of the brand.

I was introduced to Holos by Reeti Roy and Elena Dieckmann of Imperial College who had visited them after my feature on their production of SCOBY leather.

Holos Kombucha was founded in 2018 by a small group of friends in London. Holos is a Greek word that means wholeness in body, mind, and spirit. The business was born from a desire, as long-time kombucha f...

Emma Davies founded award-winning Curious Kombucha five years ago. She is based in Thorncombe, Dorset, in the south-west of England.

Emma began her brewing career 20 years ago, producing beer in local microbreweries, where she developed a deep understanding of the craft of beer making. 

In 2018, a local cafe approached Emma about making kombucha for them. She made her first batch in her kitchen and found it significantly improved her gut health. The infinite flavor combinations that enhance and balance the sour, tangy elements of the unfiltered kombucha energized her.

Only three short months af...

In the Fall 2021 edition of SYMBIOSIS Magazine, we profiled Sacha Laurin’s award-winning designs fashioned from SCOBY fabrics. She had taken early experiments in fabrics based on SCOBY (pellicle) processing to an international audience when, in 2015, she premiered her collection, entitled the “Game of Kombucha” at the Paris Fashion Week.

The challenge that Sacha acknowledged was that fabrics produced from the “nanocellular biopolymer,” “bio-cellulose,” or “bacterial cellulose” of a SCOBY needed modifications to succeed as a commercial proposition:

Sacha hopes to pass the knowledge she’s acquired of how to grow kombucha fabric to others. More people experime...