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Kombucha has been bouncing up the popularity charts in all markets in recent years. From initial reactions of “kom-what??” to now being a standard on supermarket and café shelves, everyone is jumping on board. Not only are people becoming aware of its benefits and delicious flavours but also how easy it is to make at home!

With the launch of the Mad Millie Kombucha Kit we’re excited to see more and more people getting creative in the kitchen with their booch. For those that are still new to the kombucha world here is a brief overview of what you’ve got to look forward to.

What is kombucha?

Kombucha is fermented tea. Initially when someone mentions that, most people’s nose crinkles. BUT do you like beer? Ginger beer? Wine? These are all fermented beverages.

Fermentation uses live cultures to metabolise the product and produce by-products which can include organic acids, alcohol and carbon dioxide. For kombucha this means taking sweetened tea and turning it into a slightly sweet, acidic, refreshing beverage. Kombucha has been around since 220 B.C. with its origins in China. It then slowly spread to Japan, Russia, eastern Europe and eventually western Europe. With the help of social media and the internet it is now relatively well known worldwide.

What the heck is a scoby?

Scoby is an acronym for the slimy, jellyfish-like disc that is produced by the live culture. Scoby stands for Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast, the slimy scoby is cellulose that is produced as a by-product of fermentation.

It is symbiotic as it contains a whole raft of bacteria and yeast that happily live and work together to create kombucha from the sweetened tea.

What’s all the fuss about these live cultures?

While we cannot determine or define any particular benefits from kombucha, there is a lot of research going into the impact of fermented foods, live cultures and probiotics on gut health. Gut health is also being found to have a huge impact on overall health.

Why should I make my own?

Making your own kombucha is surprisingly easy, if you are after a daily top up of live cultures it is also the most cost-effective way of doing it.

Lots of commercial kombucha products have various bits and pieces added to them to make a more efficient process during manufacturing. This can mean less actual live cultures or in some cases virtually no live culture. If you’re home brewing, then you know exactly what is going in there!

What’s different about the Mad Millie Kombucha Kit?

The Mad Millie Kombucha Kit contains a shelf stable scoby that is ready to go!

Lots of alternative scobys will be dehydrated which means they take a while to be activated again. If you don’t want the hassle of your first few batches potentially not working – go with Mad Millie.

Being shelf stable also means it doesn’t require refrigeration; through some very clever work our scoby is happy to sit at room temperature until it is fed by you. This means if you don’t get a chance to use it straight away it’s no problem! It can hang out in your pantry (out of direct sunlight) quite happily until you have some spare brew time.

For more info on the Mad Millie Kombucha Kit check out our FAQs or get in touch directly.