Most of us have heard all about Kombucha and its myriad of health benefits by now, but why should you bother making your own? Can’t you just buy a liter from the grocery store and save yourself the hassle?

There are actually a good number of reasons why making your own Kombucha and probiotic sodas at home is superior.

1st – Carbonation:

Many big brand names of kombucha will “cheat” by adding forced CO2 to their finished products in order to safeguard their products that are being produced en mass.

2nd – Sugar Content:

Another trick that the big producers of Kombucha use to appease a larger audience is having much higher total sugar content than what most home brews yield.

For a lot of health enthusiasts (the majority of people buying this stuff) hidden sugars are detrimental to their diets and aim to avoid them. Thinking that Kombucha is “safe” as it is revered for its low sugar content, they can be sorrily disappointed when they’re reading the nutrition label after they’ve downed an entire bottle of what they thought was a “healthy beverage”.

3rd – Local Microbiome seeding:

Probably the most revered health benefit boasted by kombucha drinkers is the high probiotic content. Its true that kombucha is literally “cultured tea” and is chalked full of living probiotics, yeasts and enzymes (when fermented properly). Amazing! But what most people don’t realize is that much of what makes up that SCOBY culture is being propagated with the naturally occurring bacteria and yeast in its environment.

That means the Kombucha that’s brewed in the states, en mass, then shipped all over North America, is essentially feeding our (Canadian) microbomes with foreign microorganisms. While this is completely safe and not physically harmful, its not nearly as beneficial as drinking a kombucha that was brewed in your very own kitchen with the bacteria and airborne yeasts that naturally occur there.

Essentially, we benefit greatly from seeding our microbiome with local (as close to home as possible) microorganisms.

The list goes on! But I’ll save the rest for you keen folks who are in the front row of this workshop on Saturday😎

I will add that not ALL large kombucha producers follow these guidelines, and many companies are making improved efforts to keep their consumers at the heart of their business. However, even they would agree that making your own kombucha at home is absolutely irreplicable.

If you’re interested in learning more about the vast array of health benefits and how to make your own kombucha, and several other popular probiotic soda making methods, check out our upcoming workshop at Light Cellar this Saturday!!

Looking forward to seeing you there!