How Kombucha Is Made the Better Booch Way

At Better Booch, we use a tea-forward, small batch approach to brewing our kombucha that incorporates only real, organic ingredients, for a brew that’s low in sugar and high in deliciousness. We like our probiotics live, our fermentation unpasteurized, and our ingredients 100% organic, because that’s how kombucha is made the Better Booch way.

When we first started brewing booch, many moons ago, we were brewing out of our home kitchen. These days the Better Booch brewery looks a lot different – we no longer rent our kitchen by the hour or bottle by hand – but the thing that hasn’t changed over the years is our commitment to brewing a Better kombucha with intention.

The truth is, brewing kombucha is as much science as art. Our expert team of brewers includes a flavor Chemist, a Microbiologist, and a Chef, so we really know our brew inside and out. Each flavor of Better Booch is built upon its own unique loose-leaf tea blend and flavored with botanicals, herbs, and adaptogens. In essence, we’ve done our homework. It would be easier to cut corners and take shortcuts, a lot of kombucha brands do, but that’s not our vibe. We’ve spent years mastering the science of kombucha brewing so only the best makes it to the can.

So we’re inviting you to join us on a virtual field trip to the Better Booch HQ for a tour of the brewery and to get a peek into how kombucha is made the Better Booch way.

1. It all starts with water

Great kombucha starts with great ingredients, and because we care so much about every single detail of the process, we have a custom built-in water filtration system that’s just for brewing. The result is pure and delicious water that becomes the base for our entire brew.

2. Now it’s time for a tea party

Next, we steep loose-leaf tea in boiling water. Our loose-leaf teas are hand selected and brimming with polyphenols and antioxidants to support overall health and immunitea (see what we did there?).

3. Next, we let nature work its magic

After we steep the tea, we add it to a tank along with the kombucha culture (SCOBY), fermentation fuel aka sugar, and more filtered water. During fermentation, we brew in a big wine tank with a custom lid that allows the right amount of oxygen in to promote aerobic fermentation. Aerobic fermentation allows the yeast in the culture to consume the sugar and convert it into alcohol and CO2 (natural carbonation).

Then, the bacteria converts the caffeine from the tea, and the alcohol created by the yeast, into live probiotics and beneficial, detoxifying acids like acetic and glucuronic acids. And because the sugar is consumed by the yeast during fermentation, there is very little left over once the booch makes it to the can.

4. Time to taste and test

Next we taste the brew and test it for acidity, sugar content, probiotics, yeast, and culture activity. We do this process meticulously and on a daily basis to make sure only the absolute best passes to the next step. Being a Better Booch taste tester is a hard job, but hey, someone’s gotta do it!

5. Preserving all the good stuff

To preserve the brew at its optimal point of health, we make the tank as cold as a refrigerator to stop the fermentation process. In the biz, this is referred to as cold crashing. Our tanks have temperature controlled jackets that allow us to keep our kombucha at the desired temp. If raw kombucha is unrefrigerated for too long, all of the living organisms in the brew will be harmed. Because Better Booch is truly raw, it’s packed full of probiotics, yeast, and enzymes that need to stay cold in order to have any benefit to your body.

6. On the brite side

One of the last stages in the kombucha brewing process involves transferring the booch to a brite tank to get it ready for canning. The brite tanks stay nice and cold to preserve the brew. And by this point you may have noticed that we haven’t added any artificial sweeteners, juices, or powders to the brew. Spoiler alert: we never will because we like to keep it au naturale, baby!

7. All you can drink

Now that the booch has been brewed, passed our meticulous testing process, and been preserved at the optimal point of health, it’s ready to go down the canning line! Why do we choose cans over conventional glass bottles, you may ask? Well, authentic kombucha is unpasteurized which makes it a raw, living product and cans are better at preserving all of the health benefits in the brew. Plus, cans are more sustainable when compared to glass, and they’re easier to take on adventures.

8. You crush it

We do all this so you can crack open the best booch and rest easy. It’s not the easy way, but it’s the Better way. Bottoms up friends!