Not all kombucha is made the same. But do the differences matter, asks Ewan Sargent.
Christchurch’s Jo Bind is almost ancient in New Zealand’s commercial kombucha brewing scene. And he’s only been doing it for six years. He began long before ‘‘booch’’ became the go-to drink from the service station fridge.
Bind is a tea expert who linked up with a kombucha brewing expert and now sells under the Wabi O Kombucha label.
It’s one of the purest and most traditional kombuchas (fermented tea) you could find anywhere in the world, the most real of realdeal kombucha.
He makes a variety of flavours, but only by fermenting different teas.
There’s no flavour added and no fiddling with the sugar content.
In fact, his kombucha is quite a dry brew, which is how he likes it.
Yet here’s a funny thing.
Bind is now wondering how long he can keep calling his drink kombucha because it is so different to the tsunami of soft-drink style kombucha that has swept into the country’s supermarkets, restaurants, bars, cafes, and even those service stations.
His kombucha can be disappointing for those who think kombucha is a kind of funky soft drink, which is now pretty much everyone.
Does he need to call it something else, he wonders. He’s not joking.
When Wabi O launched in 2012 it was the fourth or fifth kombucha brewery in New Zealand.
Now there are at least 35. This year, corporate kombucha from Australia – such as Amplify and Remedy – launched a mass invasion.
Countdown supermarket reports that kombucha sales have quadrupled in a year – which is a stunning rise in the cut-throat, crowded supermarket drinks section.
Last year, the United States kombucha market was worth US$600 million (NZ$890m) and it is predicted to rise to an incredible $5.5 billion by 2025.
This trend to buy food and drink as health products is huge in shopping motivators these days.
There are many strands to this, but a big one is a desire for fermented foods.
Sauerkraut and kimchi are soaring in popularity, but it’s kombucha that is probably the easiest fermented food to get into for a newcomer – especially if it tastes like a soft drink.
Fermentation is an old way of preserving food by letting bacteria, yeasts or fungi eat sugars and starches, and this creates acids and alcohol. It also boosts good bacteria called probiotics, which are a health trend in their own right.
Nutrition experts talk about gut bacteria and theorise about how much they control our overall health, so it makes sense to believe that drinking fermented kombucha with great bacteria will make us more healthy.
But that’s racing ahead of what science and research can confirm.
Associate Professor Sheila Skeaff, of Otago University’s Nutrition Department, says the focus on fermented foods and the gut biome is the new big fad and it makes sense that kombucha is caught up in that.
‘‘When I was in Boston in June there were kombucha bars,’’ she says.’’
But, she says, quick fixes don’t really exist and kombucha is just the latest thing, the way coconut was a few years ago.
As a drink, it is fine, and probably better than a lot of other drinks.
However, the long-term answer for someone to have lots of good gut bacteria that are exactly the right type and of the right amount for their health needs is to simply eat a varied and healthy diet. ‘‘It’s boring,’’ Skeaff says, ‘‘but it’s true.’’
Her colleague, senior lecturer Katherine Black, says while gut microbes are important for health, it’s likely they work in different ways for each person.
‘‘It’s pretty similar to the whole probiotic thing. They were popular to improve gut health, but new research is coming out that suggests we don’t want to just blanket increase everyone’s bacteria in the gut, and it may differ from individual to individual.’’
Kombucha brewers are careful not to put health claims on bottle labels that can’t be verified.
Bind – whose day job is doing environmental research with Niwa – admits the big issue with presenting kombucha as a health drink is that there is ‘‘very little rock-solid proof’’.
There is heaps of anecdotal evidence, he says, but no official proof.
That’s why he doesn’t call his real-deal kombucha a health drink.
New Zealand’s biggest local brewer is Good Buzz, which sells across the country, and while it happily tells about all the good stuff it in, it also doesn’t make any health claims.
‘‘We are not selling a health product,’’ cofounder Alex Campbell says carefully. ‘‘We are selling a healthier beverage that is lower in sugar and has bacteria in it that is known to fight off other bad bacteria.’’
Good Buzz is the perfect example of a rocketship trend.
In July 2014, it was just the Campbell family making kombucha in Wellington to sell at local farmers’ markets. In 2016, it took on partners and, in 2017, it moved to Tauranga.
In October 2017, Lion Breweries spotted a good thing and bought a quarter share in the company.
It was good spotting. Sales in October 2018 were double the sales of October 2017.
Campbell says it is a battleground, especially with the arrival of the Australian kombuchas.
Without clear guidelines on what kombucha is and how it should be made, there are many variations, including shortcuts and tweaks that true kombucha enthusiasts wouldn’t accept.
Campbell does some shortcuts himself, but