Not all Kombucha is created equal
On industrially 🏭 produced “Kombucha”:
You might have noticed a lot of super cheap brown bottles with the word “Kombucha” on the label popping up at supermarkets, petrol stations and maybe even at your trusted organic store. What’s that all about❓
Imagine...
...there was a genuine product/food/beverage, that had been made for thousands of years by everyday people in their homes 🏡. They made it for themselves and their families. It was made with love 💕 and the best of intentions to support their families' health and wellbeing.
Over time...
...some people became so good at making that beverage in the traditional way - with love 💖 and integrity - that others stopped making their own and started buying it instead from these wizards 🧙♂️.
One day...
...a scientist 👨🔬 in a laboratory ⚗️ discovered 🔬what people had felt and known for generations: this beverage (made in the traditional holistic way) can improve people's wellbeing. So the beverage was stamped: GOOD FOR YOU 👍🏻.
This label...
...appealed to a manufacturer of beverages that lately had become known for another label: NOT SO GOOD FOR YOU 👎🏻. They saw their profits 💰💰dwindling ⤵️ and decided to join the buzz, as they had always done.
They soon discovered...
...that this was a different product. It demanded conscious care, prime ingredients, attention, even love and integrity in making it. Those qualities were not their strengths, so they did what they knew best: they dissected the beverage's components and tempered with it until it fit their industrial manufacturing process 🏭.
So they went ahead and...
...made a strong Kombucha brew. To get the sugar content and potential alcohol content very low, they now dilute that initial brew with a lot of water - up to 900%. They might still filter out the majority of yeast from this diluted solution.
To bring flavour back to this tasteless liquid, they add juice concentrates, stevia and eurithritol.
To get the acid level to the right pH, they might add lime juice and other acidifiers.
As almost all the yeast is gone, they now have to artificially carbonate the beverage.
As they have diluted out the original culture and filtered the beverage, they often will add a 'scientifically' approved pro-biotic bacteria strain, which sometimes even counteracts the naturally occurring strains from the traditional culture.
This looks like...
...success to the manufacturer.
They now claim their product to be just the same as the traditionally made holistic Kombucha.
They can even sell it as VERY low sugar and ESPECIALLY GOOD FOR YOU.
And their shelf life is up to 8 months.
Perfect for supermarket shelves.
As they make it in very large batches 🛢🛢 with low ingredient costs, they can sell it CHEAP.
Perfect for their profits 🤑.
Perfect for shops that like to offer cheap products.
But what about...
...the people, who are now buying this cheap copy of a formerly holistic drink for their loved ones??? 🤢
Should they❓