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8 Brewers Who Are Cultivating Kombucha Culture Across The Country
As the fermented tea gains popularity across the country, here’s where you can order your batch from
First there was green tea, then kefir and now, Kombucha has made its way into hipster beverage menus catering the alternatively health-conscious.
A fermented tea, Kombucha is lightly effervescent and tartly sweet. It’s made by adding a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast (SCOBY) to a mix of tea and sugar and letting it ferment for about seven to 10 days. It can also be flavoured with juice and other beverages, as per one’s tastes. Acidic in nature, it contains Vitamin B, antioxidants and a little alcohol from the fermenting process.
The claims are that the drink originated between 200 – 221 BC in China. Soon after, it made its way to Japan on the back of a physician (supposedly named Kombu, of Korean descent). Add that up with Korean translation for tea, Cha, and there you have it.
What’s so great about the ferment is its probiotic goodness, making it healthy for the gut with a host of other benefits such as clear skin, body detoxification, immunity and metabolism boost, rebuilding of connective tissues and much more. Over the last couple of years, many folks across the country have taken it upon themselves to brew the drink, home-made style and we tell you who you can get it from:
Atmosphere Kombucha, Delhi
Crafted by sisters Rebekah and Ariella Blank, Atmosphere Kombucha launched this year in April. The duo grew up in Mussoorie, in a household where refined white foods were banned, and a taste for natural foods was instilled. Completely raw, organic and natural, the tea only contains fresh fruits and dried herbs and is free from preservatives, pasteurization, added sugar, or forced carbonation. It also comes in five diverse flavours of mango, exotic lime, guava, ginger & lavender blueberry. Apart from having an online store, their tea is stocked up at select stores and they deliver only across Delhi and NCR at the moment.
Cost: A bottle of 235ml sells for ₹ 220.
Bombucha, Mumbai
Launched in 2016, Bombucha is one of the pioneers in bringing the tea to Mumbai. It’s run by real-life partners (and in crime), Monika Powlowska and Nitin Gandhi. They’ve created a whopping 17 flavours of Kombucha, and the spectrum is rather unconventional with tastes such as Kanji, Matcha Gogi, Elderflower and many more, and they only brew it using green or black tea and a SCOBY that’s imported from the US. They’re also sticklers for sustainability and recycling with a bottle return policy, whereupon one gets a free Bombucha bottle back on the return of six empty ones. You can find their booch usually at Bandra’s Farmers’ Market every Sunday, at select stores across the city or opt for having it delivered.
Cost: A bottle of 500 ml sells in from ₹240 – ₹350, depending on the flavour.
Bucha Bar, Mumbai
After having a taste of Kombucha for the first time, the then publicist, Harsh Negandhi decided to launch Bucha Bar, a small Mumbai-based kombucha brewery in 2017. Bucha bar’s tea comes in two variants again, black and green tea and its SCOBY is procured from Goa, where Negnadhi was first acquainted with the drink. While their outlet is located in Mumbai’s Kalbadevi, they make home deliveries up to Lower Parel.
Cost: A bottle of 250 ml sells for ₹150. One can place their order at foodtraveler14@gmail.com.
CommBucha by MAVI, Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore and Indore
Launched this year in March, by couple Vikram and Mashi (Thus the name MAVI), CommBucha is another entrant in the growing probiotic culture in Mumbai. The duo first tasted Kombucha while Honeymooning in US, and were so stoked about it that they brought some culture back with them. They sold out on their very first venture as a set-up in Mumbai’s Farmers’ market and just kept going at it. Their brews come in six perennial flavours and six seasonal ones such as apricot-cinnamon, apple-nutmeg-clove and many more, while some of which come very close to home such as Adrak Ki Chah (Ginger) and Koka (Kokum). They currently take up deliveries across three big cities; Mumbai, Pune and Bangalore
Cost: A bottle of 300 ml sells for ₹150.
Good Life, Bangalore
When Odissi dancer Ashwini Raghupathy lost her voice in 2012, she began to search far and wide in scientific journals and books about a solution to her acid reflux. While her voice eventually returned, what she ended up with is finding out just how useful fermented products can be. Through her company Good Life, she discovered her alter ego, Gutnanjior ‘shakti of the gut’, who delivers Kombucha and kefirs in Bangalore. Apart from that, she’s also been organising workshops on fermentation processes since 2015, to let people know more about probiotic gut health.
Cost: One can sample a pack of three 300 ml bottles of Kombucha and kefirs for ₹500. One can contact her at gutnanji@gmail.com.
HappyBooch, Mumbai
In 2016, Shailaja Sharma fell for Kombucha started concocting brews at home. By 2017, after an entire year of researching and understanding the business, she started HappyBooch. For her ferment, she sources all the ingredients locally and organically, and its available natural flavours such as ginger and herbs, mango, passionfruit, and chai spice; perfect for the local market. While they’re available at all Godrej Nature’s Basket outlets, one can always reach out to them for orders.
Cost: A bottle of 250ml sells for ₹150, while a bottle of 500 ml sells for ₹250, through all the flavours.
Khukrain’s Kombucha, Delhi
Founded by Krishi Cress’ Achintya Anand, Khukrain’s Kombucha is made from ingredients sourced from his own farms of microgreens. The tea was created very recently by the chef-turned-farmer, and comes in regular, mint and ginger flavours. Apart from being available at all three Blue Tokai outlets, Khukrain’s Kombucha delivers across the Delhi and NCR.
Cost: One can reach them on their Instagram for personal orders.
Zen Tiger, Mumbai
A certified clinical and sports nutrition coach, Rakhi Jain Arora started Zen Tiger after getting a whiff of it while she was in Australia. Upon returning, she began Zen Tiger after converting a room in her Mumbai house into a lab. Zen Tiger comes in four classic flavours; classic, rose with rose petals, apple and cinnamon, and hibiscus and kokum and is delivered in Mumbai in the areas of Andheri, Bandra and Khar, as off now.
Cost: A bottle of 250 ml sells for ₹150
The kombucha market has invariably grown from a small cottage industry to become a start-up business, and while there’re many takers for it, it is said that those who’re pregnant or are nursing should avoid the tea, as the expelled toxins might be consumed by the foetus or baby through the bloodstream.
Nonetheless, its pros are vouched by many, unless you leave it open to ferment further and end up inebriated.
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