I first started drinking kombucha a few years ago after my brother bought me a bottle. I drank it off and on, but since it was pricey, it was more of a treat than anything.
After mentioning something to a friend, she told me she had experience home brewing kombucha and that it was pretty easy to do as well as a lot cheaper. I did a little bit of research on the process and happen to come across your kombucha website while looking for kombucha kits. I saw the deluxe package and thought about it for quite some time. I finally decided to splurge and buy it.
It was probably one of the best investments I’ve ever made!!!
The instructions and the Kombucha DVDs that came with it were very clear, thorough, and concise. It was really helpful to see you set it up.
The customer service is bar none the best I’ve ever delt with. Its nice to feel like I’m dealing with great people instead of some impersonal large company. You guys have been really great!
Making batches of kombucha with your set is so easy, I feel like I’m cheating.
You just bottle up your batch when the time comes and dump some more sweet tea in the container. Ever since I’ve been drinking the home brewed stuff, I’ve noticed,
- my energy level and mood have both increased dramatically
I used to go out for a drink now and then, but never really have a desire to except in social situations. I love giving out bottles to my friends and family as they enjoy it as well. Every week when I go into my chiropractor’s office, him and his wife seem to be pretty excited as I always bring them some. They’ve nicknamed me in their office, “kombu-john.”
When thinking about getting a gift for my girlfriend for an anniversary, I spent some time thinking about it. Finally, it dawned on me one day while I was sipping some of the liquidity goodness.
What a better gift to give somebody than the gift of health. She loves kombucha and was pretty stoked about getting it in the mail. She couldn’t wait for her first batch to be done and loves experimenting by adding dried fruit after bottling. She tells everyone about it and even shared her first batch with one of her classes. Honestly, buying the kit has been one of the best decisions I’ve ever made… twice!
Happy Brewin,
John
Organic Kombucha 
I brew my tea for usually 10 days or so and after bottling it never ever tastes like the Kombucha you buy in the store. It’s much sweeter and lighter. I tasted someone’s home brew the other day and it was super potent/vinegary tasting. My question is “Since mine tastes so mild and slightly sweet am I getting the benefits of it?”
Oooh, I hope so!
Around here, I am Kombucha Woman, known for brewing the best brew in Portland, Maine. More about that to come, but first the testimonial…
The poster girl for sinus infections, I have not even had a cold all winter. I credit the Kombucha.
I was getting into brewing quite a while back, but it was messy, and I was not entirely sure I was doing it right. Plus, quality varied wildly, as did taste. I got the brewer with the spigot, and a new SCOBY from Dave, after doing the 7 day program. Never looked back. I make delicious brew every batch, distribute it to friends, and even sell a little. And I do amazing trades that include house-cleaning, massage and even theater tickets! If all goes well, I will be brewing on-site and selling on-tap at the new Local Sprouts Cafe that is scheduled to open in May in downtown Portland. I also lead workshops in how to brew- including one coming up this Saturday at the Food for Maine’s Future conference. It is wonderful to help people take control of their health!
I love Kombucha! I crave it often. It is the only beverage, aside from water and tea, that I drink on a regular basis. I was introduced to Kombucha during my culinary school training. I am a Registered Dietitian & a Certified Holistic Chef (trained at the Bauman School for Holistic Nutrition). Of all the things I learned in culinary school, I’d say that being introduced to Kombucha is my favorite. I have made Kombucha myself in the past but had been moving around so for the past few years I’ve been buying it. I write a food column for the Santa Monica Daily Press newspaper under the name “Kitchen Vixen” All of my articles are on my website with several devoted to the wonders of Kombucha. I also write for Oxygen magazine, a women’s fitness magazine and I am developing my cooking show called “Eat2Liv” I would love a Kombucha system so I can get back to home brewin’ and share my experience with my readers and viewers. Keep up the great work! Sincerely, Elizabeth (The Kitchen Vixen)
i have been drinking kombucha, home made, for years. Over the last year, following the closed water crock system, i find it extremely simple to produce as much as I want. I have two 2& 1/2 gallon crocks going continuously. I bottle in 1 gallon glass bottles with metal tops. I add raisens and a spoonful of honey for the secondary brewing and the natural carbonation opens like a bottle of champagne. I drink nearly a gallon…GALLON a day. I work night shift in an emergency dept, and i drink a half gallon during the 12 hr shift. My mood stays up, my energy is there at the end of the shift. I recommend it to everyone whom questions what i’m drinking. Can you drink too much..?…..IDON”TTHINKSO…….keith
True believer since I feel a whole lot better with my K-tea–but my friend who has always gotten ill when eating cheese (which is hard since he is Mexican and we all love their food) after drinking K-tea he can eat cheese and drink milk with no ill side effects.
I screamed up to 22 times in my sleep in ’05. I had my first screams in ’02 followed by a severe depression because of them. After some hospitalization in ’02 for the depression, the screams disappeared until ’05. No doctor could explain what I had after a bunch of expensive testing (EEGs). I patiently started trying different treatments for a week for each one with the exception of Lunesta — terrible stuff. In ’06, my sister suggested that I try freshly brewed kombucha. I started out by washing a few gallon pickle jars and filling them with sweet tea and a SCOBY on top. I added some pasta sauce jars to produce more kombucha. It was summer, so I didn’t need a heater. SCOBYs multipliplied like crazy, but brewing was extremely slow since I had to wait 14 days between brews. I had my first few ounces and the kombucha made such a drastic difference in my body after the first couple of minutes, I knew I had to keep it up. Still, I had to find a faster way to brew it.
That’s when I started to use a continuous brewer. It was ’07 and I was brewing enough kombucha to have more than an ounce a day. However, I was using a glass brewer and it cracked over time around the spicket. That’s when I ordered a ceramic brewer from Get Kombucha and then I didn’t have any more brewing trouble. I use a 16 W garden flat heater to keep my brew at 90 degrees. I now have an inventory of 30 bottles; enough to give me a bottle of 30-day-old kombucha every day. However, I still screamed once every night. I started meditating daily and all screams disappeared.
I went to Ft. Collins Colorado to the Whole Foods there because I was on a raw food diet. Which by the way is an awesome way to health. So I was looking for every and anything raw when my friend and I saw the K-tea! We tried it on our drive home and both of us loved it…I loved the “buzz” it gave (for the lack of a better word). So we continued to drink it and when I came back to Oregon I was shopping in a store a long ways away and found the grape! WOW was that the best ever!! Now I really was hooked and my “habit” grew to one a day…at least. My body was actually craving the stuff so I figured that there is something in it that I needed.
When I got back home I requested the store I usually get it from to start selling the grape…so they hesitantly started selling it. When I went in the first week they said it was going like hot cakes and they couldn’t keep it in stock….hate to say it but…I TOLD YA SO!!
So then my buddy in Cheyenne told me she got on line and found out how to make the stuff. Well I figured I was going to go broke keeping up with my habit so I invested and I keep it brewing every week. I add Organic Black Cherry Concentrate for flavoring once in a while. I am getting ready to go “ginger”.
And here’s the neatest thing…my 17 year old, who wouldn’t drink the gross stuff, will drink the tea cold when I don’t ferment it and I know he is getting benefits from that. I am all for anything to get healthy stuff into them!!! Thanks for all your help.
I also have to tell you that I spent over an hour on the phone on hold trying to cancel my phone service from a very large notable company that begins with V and has a Z in it. That was all on hold time. I never did get through to them and ended up writing a letter….You guys have the BEST personalized service ever!! The large companies could take some lessons from you!! Denise
My story starts with a web search on the issue of women dealing with hair loss and came across a wonderful resource, the Women’s Hair Loss Council (WHLC). Now, hair loss is only one of the many issues I deal with, but the most visible. One of their tips was to drink kombucha daily. I’d been hearing about it from a couple of friends so I decided to look into it further. On my way home from work one day, I stopped by a health store and bought a bottle. I was told to “go easy” at first, but couldn’t resist and drank the whole thing! I felt great that evening which was a surprise as I’m usually very tired, but by bed time, I noticed the skin on my face healing where I had patches of eczema . I was sold! I bought and drank it daily but realized I’d soon go broke with my new addiction at $4 a bottle! In a couple of days, I purchased your home brewing system and began the seven day mini-course to learn as much as I could on brewing it at home. It was a no-brainer, easier than pie!
Brewing is simple, and I’ve loved sharing it with friends and family. My sister is beginning her own batch and my mother-in-law can’t get enough from me! We’ve all noticed that it does amazing things to the digestive system. I’ve begun to lose weight and my mother-in-law has reported the same results. I’m thrilled! I’ve been able to stop taking a couple of supplements, a probiotic and a magnesium supplement. (Thanks for helping me save money!) I love the history behind it too, how the grandmothers in China would pass the tea on to their granddaughters when they got married. What a great way to pass on “health and well-being!” I’m starting early to pass it on and hope to have my children addicted to it before they leave home. My nine year old loves it and it is helping her to deal with her sugar addiction. Candida doesn’t stand a chance here now!
It may take a couple of months to see if the kombucha will have an effect on my hair growth and I’m looking for ways to make my tea stronger. I’m thinking of getting a heating pad to see if that will help. I thought living in Florida would give it enough heat, but we still keep the house in the 70’s. Maybe in the summer time I can try putting it out in my garage. Still, the tea has been very tasty, except for the batch that sat two weeks when I had to leave town for my grandfather’s funeral . . . way too vinegary! I love reading your letters and tips on flavoring. My favorite is to squeeze fresh citrus (lemon or orange) into the bottle when I drink it. I’d tried dried fruit too. All good.
So, thank you for making it easy and fun to live well. I’ll keep you posted on the hair issue!
Hello,
I left Portland, OR almost two years ago and moved to Mexico (I could no longer take the weather in the Pacific Northwest, although it is a GREAT place to live in). In my move, I brought along a couple bottles of my home made kombucha. I wept when I had to leave behind about 4 gallons of brewed kombucha. The neighbors though were ecstatic with the loads of kombucha brew AND mothers they inherited.
Back in Portland I used good quality loose leaf tea, but when I arrived here it was very hard to find even teabags! I was really dissapointed and forgot about brewing kombucha. I looked for kombucha mothers and the prices was outrageous, so I gave up altogether.
A few weeks ago, I found my two bottles of kombucha. After over a year and a half they were still heavy and contained liquid.
I opened them and was greatly surprised to see they had both created a mother of over an inch in thickness and were keeping the brew safely underneath.
I made an effort to find teabags and now I am brewing again a lot of kombucha. I would have never thought that it would last this long without oxigen in the bottles and without creating mold on the mothers.
I am a happy brewer once again.
I hope I will find “real” tea soon.
I am noticing my good spirits and my activity and attention levels rise greatly. I am sure my brew is to be thanked for this.
DW
I recently started drinking kombucha & every time I drink it I end up with GI distress–twinges of pain in my abdomen, a crampy/constricture-like feeling in the center of my abdomen that lasts for hours. Has anyone else experienced this? It doesn’t matter how much or little I drink, the same thing happens each time & seems to be worse if I drink it just before eating. I do not believe my kombucha is contaminated in anyway.
Julia, you may want to get a new SCOBY and start brewing with a fresh SCOBY and freshly-made sweet tea. Are you using the right teas? Try some store-bought kombucha to see if the same reaction occurs.
Only use pure teas such as green, white, red and black. The mixture of leaves should include 50% black, a pinch of red, 30% green and a pinch of white. Add a cup-and-a-half of white sugar per gallon of tea. Let the thing steep with the tea leaves in it (Despite what Dave says) overnight or for four days. This is so the sweet tea mix can absorb extra tannin from the leaves to feed the SCOBY. Also, it’s to give the flavor more punch. I use an MSR heat shield around my pot for brewing the tea for the entire brewing process to hold in heat to get as much nutrition from the leaves as possible.
When transferring to the gallon jar, use a stainless steel micro screen filter to separate the tea leaves from the sweet tea. Fill the jar 2/3 way to avoid spillage in the transfer process. Now pour the sweet tea from the jar to the continuous brewer. Pouring a gallon jar that’s too full is guaranteed to spill. Transfer as many times as necessary until all the sweet tea mix is out of the pot. With clean hands, squeeze the clump of leaves at the bottom of the pot.
Keep the brew at 90 degrees throughout the brew process. Brewing should only take 48 hrs in the GetKombucha porcelain 2.5 gal continuous brewer.
kombucha well i remember when i could not even pronounce the word right. i would walk into a local health food store in the frisco and if it was not on the shelfs; i would be forced to ask a stock clerk for the stuff by name. he or she would always look at me strange like i was off my rocker; then they would make the connection to the noise i was making too some thing similar in their own minds and he or she would repeat the proper pronouncation of the word and bring me those small bottles of asian fermented drinks in those little small brown bottles. now i am brewing my own and finding new taste pretty much with each new batch. it my daily chassser with the wheatgrass seven days a week