THE BOOCH, THE WHOLE BOOCH, AND NOTHING BUT THE BOOCH!

OUR LAST BLOG revealed how over 90% of “kombucha” brands sold in the U.K. today are not in compliance with legal standards for food labelling (Regulation No. 1169/2011). With more and more of you wanting to know how to tell if your regular booch brand is the real thing, here are our 5 top tips:

1) Does your “kombucha” swirl and cascade into the glass like a symphony of eclectic bubbles, or with bland conformity like carbonated soda?

2) Is there a sharp, mildly vinegary and tangy back-of-the-throat bite?

3) Can you use it as a starter to make your own delicious homemade kombucha (if so it will form a healthy layer of culture when poured into a bowl, covered with tight-knit cloth and kept somewhere warm like an airing cupboard for 2-3 weeks)?

4) Is there a mat of yeast sediment at the bottom of the bottle, and does the tea turn from clear to cloudy as you pour it into a glass or gently shake the bottle (some small brewers remove the yeasts and force carbonate for more stable results; the vinegary hit in such brews will be more pronounced without the presence of yeasts to balance the mouth feel)

5) Are there just 4 basic ingredients - water, tea, sugar and kombucha culture - besides the flavouring listed on the label?

If you answered yes to all 5 then rest easy; you are buying the real thing (maybe one of those pictured?) and not a processed or abstract variant that, for example, boasts “zero sugar” yet is sweetened with additives that until 2017 were banned by the EU due to their ability to irritate the gut lining, particularly in children, and cause bloating and diarrhea - the very things real kombucha alleviates (make that tip 6!)

Don’t be “kon-bucha’ed”; become a part of the Great Awakening and join The Real Kombucha Revolution today (see recent posts about our mission to educate and empower the great British public to make fully informed choices about the (Franken)booch they buy, how it’s made and where it’s from.