What does ‘Live’ kombucha mean?

Just what it sounds like. The beneficial bacteria that metabolize caffeine and sugar to make caffeine are still alive and well in your bottle of kombucha!

These little troopers go into your gut and feed other beneficial bacteria and seed new colonies of good bacteria. 

This also means your kombucha will continue to ferment. You might have noticed ‘do not shake’ on the side of your bottle. C02 is a delightful byproduct of fermentation and gives kombucha its light, effervescent taste. Because your Kombucha continues to live in its bottle, the C02 will build up. Shaking it disrupts the C02 and could cause your drink to fizz out the top when it’s opened! Instead, try a gentle barrel roll to recombine any sediment. 

Try leaving a bit of kombucha in the bottom of your bottle with the lid off for a few days. You’ll notice a jellyfish-like substance growing on the top of the liquid! This is called the ‘mother’ or scoby (Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast) and can be used to make another batch of kombucha. This super easy experiment is a great way to teach kids about fermentation and beneficial bacteria.

Every scoby is a direct descendant of the batch before it. Kombucha has been dated back over 2,000 years and is estimated to have originated in China, so kombucha really is an ancient ferment! The bacteria and yeasts will change a little in each environment with different sources of tea, water and environmental factors, but only the most beneficial (and delicious) scobies are fed and reproduced year after year and like all ferments, they just improve with time!

And now you know!