'Booch News

Four years ago I visited The Elixir Spot vegan cafe and kombucha brewery near the Pier in Puerto Vallarta. Then in 2024 I added an update reporting they had expanded to a second location in the 5th of December neighborhood. This year I discovered that the 5th of December location had closed and, just three months ago, The Wellness Patio opened at 165 Francisca Rodríguez, a block away from the original Elixir Spot location. This sister location is in a quieter, more relaxed place than by the busy pier where tourists congregate. Located in a pleasant courtyard, down a short flight of steps at the side of a pharmacy, The Wellness Patio is managed by Monica and Omar’s daughter, Georgette. Delicious Menu They offer a range of vegan foods and beverages from juices, waffles, and salads, to wellness shots, chia puddings, and, of course, the Reiki-energized kombucha from the original location. Holistic Healing True to the name, The Wellness Patio offers Reiki, breathwork, sound healing, ice bath sessions and healing ceremonies for groups and individuals in the patio. The space is also available for birthday and wedding celebrations. Interview Georgette shares the story of The Wellness Patio in this exclusive interview. The post The Wellness Patio, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico appeared first on 'Booch News.

World Ferment Day took place on February 1st this year. Billed as a global celebration that turns theory into practice, people were invited to taste a ferment, make a ferment, share a ferment or host a ferment event. Organizer Jo Webster was supported by The Fermentation School, Wildbrine, and The Fermentation School en español. Goodfellows Restaurant in Jo’s home town of Wells, Somerset, hosted two 15-person sold-out sittings of a ‘Cultured Lunch’ by chef Adam Fellows. Jo and her friend Caroline Gilmartin helped prepare the dishes. The Cultured Lunch constituted two back to back sell-out sittings in Adam’s delightful restaurant. The aim was to showcase how ferments meld deliciously as part of tasty meals, bringing complexity and diversity to the table. Whether it was in the form of my fermentceutical crackers, loaded with labneh and Jerusalem artichoke ferment, or the Fennel Blush ferment and Cultjar‘s Cooks Kowl sauerkraut tucked under the duo of organic salmon, the results were extremely popular. My Rosemary sourdough went down a storm and so did Caroline’s mango kefir ice cream, with Fermenti’s enlivening fermented fruit bites to augment it. Caroline showed attendees how to make milk kefir and explained how those first milk kefir grains were snaffled out of the Caucasus region by subterfuge for the benefit of so many nations thereafter. I waxed lyrical about my beloved vegetable ferments and forgot to roll the sleeves of my white shirt up before grating the beetroot. People went home inspired, excited and satiated. My favourite feedback was from a gentleman who candidly said that his wife had twisted his arm to get him to attend with her.  “I thought it was going to be shit”, he said. I assumed World Ferment Day was just aimed at making money rather than genuinely aiming to make lives better by encouraging more people to eat and drink more ferments. In fact, this has been an inspiring afternoon and I am so glad that I came”. Challenges Jo acknowledges that fermented foods and drinks are still a niche. This is part of the challenge. While there’s more producers coming into the market, I still think it’s a pretty hard market to be in. For many, it has been a pretty lonely and isolating market to be in for quite a long time for quite a few people. And that is gradually changing for sure. And there’s definitely more players coming into the market. Some are ramping up production and it seems like something is shifting. Statistics 17 countries 70+ events 400 people signed up to the ferment pledge 5000+ people viewing the global map 786 Instagram followers This marked a sizable increase from the first World Ferment Day where there were only 10 events. There was very little planning for 2025. I thought of the idea at the beginning of January and we held it at the beginning of February. It was very low key. This time we’ve had a year, but various things have happened to distract me. We had a good three month run up, but this time we’re going to have a full year run up. Global Response Tomorrow, some of us will step into a communal kitchen for a cooking session guided by Food Citizen’s regular volunteer and partner, Deepa. Among other foods, we’ll be making idli — a fermented dish common in many South Indian homes and available in Singapore at stalls and restaurants. Food Citizen, Singapore I created this ebook to celebrate World Ferment Day. Fermentation is an art, a way to connect with our ancestry and, at the same time, a contemporary path to create new possibilities in the kitchen. Inside this ebook, you will find 5 very special recipes, carefully tested and developed by me over the years. Nomad Food Lab, São Bernardino, Portugal Celebrating World Fermentation Day by making my granny’s favourite ferment: sauerkraut. My love of preserving stems from my granny, Ima Mae (in the photo, which lives in my kitchen) who always had homemade pickles (including kraut) on the table, all made with veg grown by my granddad. Rachel de Thample, London, England It’s @world.ferment.day!!! What are you doing to celebrate?! Today we’re going be doing a lot of fermentation processing and feeding a lot of cultures before we head to India this week on a fermentation journey with @rtb_kombucha. Contraband Ferments, Atlanta, USA World Ferment Day exists to honor one of the oldest human food practices — preservation through time, not technology. Fermentation isn’t fast. It isn’t flashy. It’s salt, patience, attention, and trust. That’s why it felt right to host my first workshop of the year on February 1. Golden State Pickle Works, Santa Rosa, California, USA Fermentation is a revolution. #doyouhavetheguts to say yes to living in collaboration with microbes and immigrants and residents from the air and soil? And say NO to fascism? Together as a community we can do this. Cultures Group, New York, USA Today, it’s worth taking a moment to recognise just how fundamental ferm

Last year, I met Gina Méndez, the founder of Kova Kombucha in Puerto Vallarta. At that time, I reported that she had been in business for a year, was operating out of her home, and producing 250-300 bottles per month. She planned to move to a larger space. Twelve months later, I visited Gina at her larger space. She now produces twice the quantity in Puerto Vallarta and, together with her business partner, who operates a sister brewery in Zapotlanejo, near Guadalajara, sells Kova in five cities. Between the two facilities, they are selling 700 bottles a month. The larger space means she can brew more kombucha, but she barely keeps up with demand. The 200-liter stainless steep primary fermentation tank and kettle have streamlined part of the production process. Her challenge is the labor-intensive manual work of sanitizing, filling, and capping the bottles. Nevertheless, she still performs multiple times a week as the lead singer in The Lovers, playing in clubs and bars around town. She’s planning to relocate to a new facility closer to her home. I look forward to catching up next year to see how much further Kova Kombucha has come. Interview Listen to the podcast to hear Gina tell the story of her growing business. The post Update: Kova Kombucha, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico appeared first on 'Booch News.

Shajia Meraj’s thesis at Karachi University, Pakistan, was a groundbreaking exploration of kombucha “leather” (dried cellulose SCOBYs) in the context of sustainable textile design. Rather than viewing this material merely as an industrial substitute for animal leather, Meraj’s research, conducted over 11 months in 2025, treats it as a living, time-based medium that responds to its environment and the care it receives. This project balances technical material experimentation and mastery with a profound conceptual inquiry into grief, memory, and circularity. Sustainability Shajia was first inspired by a TED Talk by prominent Italian fashion designer Marina Spadafora, which introduced her to the possibility of using kombucha leather for garments. What drew her to the material was its accessibility; it can be grown using simple ingredients: water, sugar, tea, and starter. Choosing to work outside a traditional laboratory, she transformed a spare room into a domestic studio, using household fermentation tools and shallow trays to harvest the cellulose. Navigating Challenges in Pakistan Executing this project in Pakistan presented significant hurdles. Not only was kombucha unfamiliar to her academic advisors, but the local climate also posed constant threats to the material. During the monsoon season, high humidity caused mold growth, while drier months rendered the leather brittle and paper-like. Shajia spent eleven months in a trial-and-error process, eventually determining that a thickness of half an inch was ideal for drying without the material becoming too fragile. She was supported by Shahzaib Arif of ProB the only kombucha brand in Pakistan, which provided the starter necessary to maintain her continuous brewing process. A Material Reflection on Grief The heart of Shajia’s work lies in the parallels between kombucha leather and the experience of grief. Kombucha leather grows slowly over time, and every sheet is unique, imperfect, and evolving. I think that mirrors how grief works. Grief does not happen all at once; it unfolds gradually, and the memories and emotions surface in cycles. Likewise, the circular nature of kombucha leather growth very much reflects the circular life cycle of grief and memory. These two things fit together very nicely, because both processes involve patience, layering, and ever-changing memory. To ground this concept, she incorporated photographs taken by her late father, who passed away 16 years ago when she was a young girl, into her material outcomes. Her artistic installations include: The Memory-Twisting Lamp: A sculptural piece where light interacts with translucent leather and her father’s photographs to emphasize the fragility and impermanence of memory. Every image is embedded and sandwiched between two layers of kombucha leather, holding the photograph in place like a preserved moment in time. These slides represent how memories exist as fragments, separate yet connected. The Circular Installation: A gradient of 200 dyed circles moving from deep red to warm yellow, representing the evolution of grief from intense loss to a state of acceptance. The circular forms reference the cyclical nature of grief, how it returns, overlaps, and continues rather than ending. Deeper reds at the center represent emotional intensity and loss, while the warmer ambers and yellows moving outward suggest memory, warmth, and moments of acceptance. The Mosaic Portrait: A large-scale tribute composed of thousands of small photographs taken by her father, layered with organic kombucha squares to create a cohesive image that reflects how we perceive the essence of a person through fragments. The kombucha leather adds an organic, textured quality that mirrors the slow, layered nature of memory, making the piece both a visual tribute and a reflection on how we perceive and preserve the essence of a person, through both the whole and the sum of its parts. The Future of Bio-Textiles Despite initial skepticism from her peers and faculty, Shajia successfully defended her thesis and earned an A-. While she also produced functional items, such as a hand-sewn cardholder, her primary focus remained on the material’s emotional potential. Now a graduate, she’s interested in collaborating with other researchers to push the boundaries of what sustainable textiles can represent. She can be reached at [email protected]. Source: NotebookLM Interview Shajia discusses her project in this exclusive interview. The post Grief and Growth: Exploring the Alchemy of Kombucha Leather appeared first on 'Booch News.

This is the last in a series about possible futures, published in Booch News each week, starting with a Preview on October 3rd. Episode 11 appeared last week. Overview By 2100, the Earth hums with quiet vitality. Cities are green, breathable, and alive—literally. After the Climate Reckoning of the 2050s and the Fermentation Reformation that followed, humanity abandoned synthetic consumerism and rediscovered the wisdom of the microbial world. Artificial beverages—cola, beer, wine—became relics of the Carbon Age. People sought drinks that delivered tangible benefits: nourishing the microbiome, stabilizing mood, and sharpening cognition. Enter kombucha—the “living beverage,” a cornerstone of living systems. The Reformation’s legacy isn’t merely biological transformation—it’s cultural maturation: learning to work cooperatively with living systems, valuing local knowledge, building community infrastructure, maintaining honest assessment of capabilities, and recognizing that sustainable human thriving requires biological partnership rather than attempted domination. Humanity still faces continuing challenges: climate adaptation, resource management, social equity, political conflict, and planetary boundaries. Fermentation provides useful tools but not complete solutions. Humanity’s Partnership with Living Systems By 2100, humanity had learned crucial lessons about partnership with living systems. Fermentation taught that: Working with biology is often more effective than fighting it: Bacterial bioremediation, probiotic therapies, and closed-loop life support—all leverage natural processes rather than opposing them. Local diversity produces resilience: Decentralized fermentation cooperatives proved more adaptable than consolidated industrial food systems. Traditional knowledge contains valuable insights: Indigenous and traditional fermentation practices offered solutions that industrial approaches missed. Community infrastructure matters: Spaces for gathering and productive cooperation strengthen communities beyond what the consumption culture provides. Multiple approaches are necessary: Fermentation didn’t solve everything because no single practice can. Success required combining fermentation with policy reform, technological innovation, social justice work, and environmental restoration. Fermentation delivered measurable benefits: Improved public health through better nutrition Stronger communities through cooperative infrastructure Environmental benefits through local food production Cultural preservation through traditional knowledge Economic alternatives through cooperative ownership Educational frameworks through hands-on biology There are remaining challenges: Scaling benefits without losing local character Maintaining safety while enabling accessibility Supporting displaced industrial workers Balancing innovation with tradition Limiting commercial exploitation of the grassroots movement Addressing inequities in access and outcomes As the century closed, kombucha stood as both metaphor and method: proof that small, symbiotic systems could heal a planet pushed to the brink. Humanity had moved from extraction to participation, from ego-systems to ecosystems. The last generation of leaders—those raised during the chaos of the early 2000s—reflected on a hard-won truth: sustainability was not a policy but a practice of humility. The Great Rebalancing (2090–2100) The final decade before 2100 brought a reckoning—a rebalancing between people, planet, and profit. The kombucha industry, now deeply intertwined with global food, health, and climate systems, found itself both humbled and empowered. What began as a niche craft drink half a century earlier had become a symbol of regenerative commerce, microbial stewardship, and planetary renewal. The Century’s End By the 2090s, humanity had learned to live within limits. The population stabilized below nine billion. Carbon neutrality—once an abstract goal—was enforced globally through trade-linked carbon credits. Artificial intelligence governed not only production and logistics but also ecological thresholds: AI-run “planetary dashboards” warned when resources neared the threshold of overshooting. Kombucha—once merely a beverage—was now part of a symbiotic food network. Its microbial base served as a living substrate for nutritional pastes, medicinal tonics, and even biodegradable materials. SCOBY farms, floating on the world’s rewilded seas, generated both food and oxygen while sequestering carbon. The Kombucha Konfederation The seeds that were planted in 2025 with KBI’s Verified Seal Program had by 2095, evolved into the Global Kombucha Konfederation. What was once a struggling network of small brewers had grown into a transnational cooperative representing over a billion daily consumers. Its “Code of Fermentation Ethics” guided microbial stewardship and regenerative practices across all con

I recently talked with Marianne O’Donnell, the founder of Kombucha Na Dálaigh, based in Donegal in the north-west of Ireland. I began by wishing her a Happy Christmas in her native tongue, which is the limit of my Irish language skills. This was an appropriate greeting since Kombucha Na Dálaigh is located in a Gaeltacht region of the Republic, where Irish is the everyday language and a cornerstone of local culture, traditions, and identity. Origins Having taught Food and Nutrition and Communications for 24 years, and also being a Certified Nutrition Coach, Marianne has always had a curiosity for learning, wellness, and cooking. “I never set out to start a kombucha business, but sometimes the best things in life happen by accident.” “It all started during COVID, when I was struggling with gut health issues. A friend gave me a SCOBY—this strange, alien-looking thing—and I started brewing kombucha in my kitchen in Gortahork.” She felt immediate benefits, and friends encouraged her to sell commercially. Marianne attended the International Kombucha summit in Berlin in November 2023, which reinforced her to look at flavor trends. Production After starting in her kitchen and moving to the home garage, Marianne has now outsourced production, bottling, and canning to another facility under her supervision. She concentrates on marketing and growing the business. Her kombucha uses 60% organic Sencha green tea and 40% Assam black tea. Irish Identity The brand uses Irish on its labels and website. This isn’t just a matter of translation; it’s a statement of identity. Marianne believes Irish belongs in the everyday, in our food culture, and in our future. She benefits from government support through Údarás na Gaeltachta, the regional state agency responsible for the economic, social, and cultural development of Ireland’s Irish-speaking regions. Her company is listed in their directory, along with Ireland’s largest brand, Synerchi, also in Donegal, and Claregalway’s All About Kombucha. Glacadh lenár ndúchas áitiúla Gaeltachta Táimid lonnaithe i nGort a’Choirce agus táimid brodúil as a bheith ag déanamh beorach go háitiúil, ag cinntiú caighdeán d’ardcháiliócht. Mar sin de, cén fáth go mbeifeá sásta le deochanna boga atá déanta go saorga nuair a thig leat sásamh fionnuar a fháil as kombucha? Agus nuair nach bhfuil fonn ort beor, leann úll nó fíon a ól, is kombucha an deoch malartach is fearr. Embracing Our Local Gaeltacht Roots Based in Gortahork, we take pride in brewing locally, ensuring high-quality standards.So, why settle for artificially produced soft drinks when you can indulge in the refreshing satisfaction of kombucha? And for those times when you’re not in the mood for beer, cider, or wine, kombucha makes for the perfect alternative. Awards The company has been recognized multiple times at the annual Blas na hEireann (Taste of Ireland) awards, and this year was honored as the ‘Best Wellness Drink’ at the EVOKE Awards. Growing awareness Marianne is witnessing an increasing acceptance and awareness of kombucha in Ireland. The popularity of kombucha in Ireland is catching up with places like California. There are some strong kombucha companies in Ireland. Sixty percent of shops will have kombucha now. And it’s growing. It is really, really growing. And the whole no and low alcohol movement, it’s really increasing. You know, kombucha is perfect for that. People who want that adult complex flavor without the booze. There’s a real mixture of customers. Younger people have nearly all sampled kombucha before. Maybe older generations haven’t. But then once they taste it, they’re hooked. They love it. So lots of my local customers would be people in their 70s and 80s because they understand the health benefits. So, it’s a mixture of people that drink it in Ireland, but people are definitely more aware of kombucha and the benefits of fermented drinks. Distribution Kombucha Na Dálaigh is mainly sold through retail channels, with some direct-to-consumer online sales. Following her Blas na hEireann awards, premier retailer Avoca contacted her, and she’s now in their 13 stores across Ireland. She also sells in Ulster, where she has made personal contact with retail outlets. Flavors She sells both 750-milliliter bottles and slimline 250-milliliter cans. Her three flavors have Irish language names. Grá: (Love): Hibiscus, raspberry, rosehip, and herbal infusion. Anam (Soul): Ginger juice, botanical infusion (including citrus peels, ginger, lemon myrtle, and spices), natural hops. Sláinte (Health): Turmeric juice, ginger juice, herbal infusion (including apple, lemongrass, ginger, and botanical petals). Marianne also produces limited editions, such as a carrageen moss and dulse seaweed mix named ‘Mara’ for the Ballymaloe House Cookery School in Cork. In the summer, she also makes an elderflower and gooseberry brew. Podcast Click on the podcast

This is one in a series about possible futures, published in Booch News over the coming weeks. Episode 10 appeared last week. New episodes drop every Friday. Overview In this episode, we examine the years after kombucha and fermented foods emerged into the mainstream, exploring how ordinary people experienced the transition to a fermented future. This did not happen without a backlash. Opposition to the Fermentation Reformation came from multiple sources: corporate interests protecting market share, religious communities navigating theological questions, workers facing economic displacement, and cultural conservatives wedded to familiar traditions. These culture wars revealed how commercial interests manipulate public opinion through manufactured controversy. Ultimately, the conflicts produced stronger frameworks by forcing fermentation advocates to address legitimate concerns while exposing cynical manipulation. The Corporate Disinformation Campaign: Following the Tobacco Playbook The “Pure Liquid Coalition” (PLC) emerged in 2047 as an apparently grassroots movement defending “traditional American beverages” against kombucha. Behind the patriotic rhetoric lay sophisticated corporate funding that traced directly to the tobacco industry’s playbook of manufactured doubt and astroturf activism. Internal documents leaked by whistleblower Jennifer Martinez, a former Mega-Cola strategic communications director, revealed the coalition’s true origins. The American Beverage Association had allocated $2.3 billion to create “citizen opposition” to fermentation, following tactics perfected during decades of fighting sugar taxation and nutrition labeling. The leaked “Operation Sterile Shield” documents showed how corporations manufactured controversy around living beverages using strategies tobacco companies had employed to deny cancer links. The Historical Playbook: Tobacco to Sugar to Anti-Fermentation Dr. Clara Oreskes, daughter of the famous science historian, documented the direct lineage of corporate disinformation campaigns in her landmark study, Merchants of Doubt: The Fermentation Edition. The same PR firms and lobbyists who had denied climate change and defended cigarettes shifted focus to attacking beneficial bacteria. The template was brutally effective: fund biased research, create scientific controversy where none existed, establish front groups with patriotic names, exploit religious messaging, and deploy emotional appeals about tradition and freedom. Hill+Knowlton Strategies, the firm that helped tobacco companies conceal evidence of lung cancer, orchestrated the anti-kombucha campaign through organizations such as “Americans for Beverage Safety” and “Families Against Fermentation.” These groups received millions in corporate funding while claiming to represent concerned parents. The playbook was familiar: fund sympathetic academics, support existing opposition voices, create research institutes with neutral-sounding names, and amplify concerns through media partnerships. They approached Pastor Billy Bob Hunt, head of the Southern Protestant Association. “We’d like to support your ministry’s community health initiatives with a $50,000 grant. No strings attached, though we’re naturally pleased that you share our concerns about fermentation safety.” Hunt was tempted—$50,000 could fund youth programs, building repairs, and community outreach. But he asked: “What do you want in return?” “Nothing explicit,” the strategist said carefully. “Though if you happen to speak publicly about fermentation concerns, we’d help amplify your message.” Hunt declined. He had theological concerns, but wouldn’t serve as a paid spokesperson. Other religious leaders accepted—some knowingly, others genuinely believing the corporate interests aligned with their spiritual mission. The Propaganda Streams: Exploiting Cultural Divisions The PLC deployed multiple messaging campaigns targeting different demographics: Religious Exploitation Evangelical networks received slick marketing materials arguing that fermentation represented a corruption of purity. Some religious leaders, funded through undisclosed corporate donations, preached against living beverages using theological language that resonated with communities already suspicious of scientific change. Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. — John 6:27 The strategy exploited genuine religious concerns about bodily purity while hiding commercial motivations. “Charitable donations” to religious organizations obscured corporate interests behind spiritual messaging. At the Murfreesboro headquarters of the Southern Protestant Convention, Pastor Hunt preached on fermentation from a genuine theological concern. His understanding: God creat

WonderBrew Kombucha made history by clinching six prestigious titles at the World Kombucha Awards 2025 in Barcelona, Spain. The brand was founded in 2018 by Joseph Poh Wen Xian and Loke Boon Eng. Origins In 2018 Joseph began a journey to transform his gut health. He would walk the aisles of the supermarket, searching for the latest health foods and supplements to try. On one of these fateful trips, he discovered kombucha (which he had never tasted before). Going with his gut instinct, he took a bottle home and, in his words, “It was love at first sip.” He did not know it at the time, but his first purchase was Boon’s brand of kombucha. The drink calmed his indigestion and piqued his business senses. A Google search for local kombucha led him to a brewing class by Boon. Joseph signed up for the class. The two were still strangers at this point. After that, Joseph began home-brewing kombucha for personal use as his entrepreneurial spirit began to fizz. When he heard about the kombucha hype overseas, he knew he was sitting on a pot of fermented gold. After extensive study of the local market, Joseph approached Boon to join him as a partner, and WonderBrew was born. I had a sense that this could be a business opportunity in Malaysia. Because it was so rare and it was expensive with mostly the imported products from imported brands from overseas. And it was really not accessible as well. So, based on this market gap, we worked together to create a truly local brand called Wonderbrew in 2018. Joseph, WonderBrew Co-Founder WonderBrew has grown to become Malaysia’s leading kombucha producer, with more than 2,000 retail touchpoints across supermarkets, convenience stores, cafes, hotels, and restaurants nationwide. They now employ more than a dozen people. They are on record as aiming to double production in 2026 and to expand their footprint across Southeast Asia, with a focus on the Singapore and Indonesian markets. Since its founding in 2018, it has sold more than 1.5 million bottles. Small batch production To ensure consistent quality and preserve the freshness of their product, they brew in small batches. Award Winning Joseph and Boon made history on the global stage by clinching six prestigious titles at the World Kombucha Awards 2025, held in Barcelona. In its first-ever international competition, WonderBrew emerged as one of the biggest winners at this year’s event, clinching one gold, four silvers and one bronze, across both taste and design categories, (see listings below). The feat marks the first time a Malaysian brand has won at the World Kombucha Awards and the first time an Asian brand has secured six titles in a single award year. Flavors Wonderbrew offers a dizzying range of both kombucha and jun flavors. Many use local sources of ingredients and are heavily oriented to fruity flavors: When we first launched our original flavors, we found that based on feedback, something fruity and something on a slightly sweeter side helps new users get used to kombucha. So from there on, we focused very much mostly on fruit-based infusion because for especially new consumers, they don’t really like the vinegary taste. Boon, WonderBrew Co-Founder Kombucha Original: Kombucha in its purest form. The freshness of tea with a malty after-taste. Passionfruit Mint {GOLD: Fruit with Herbs}: A best-selling concoction of fresh passion fruit with a cool after-taste of mint. This is thei Purple Serai: When blue pea and a tinge of lemongrass Acai & Black Goji: Acai and goji berries are used in traditional Asian cooking. Beetroot Basil: A ruby red hue with hints of basil. Nihon Green Tea {SILVER: Original Green Tea} + {SILVER: Single Bottle Design}: Pure kombucha  full of floral hints. Tambun Pomelo: Refreshing sweet pomelo grown in Ipoh, the gateway to the Cameron Highlands. Roselle Citrus: An antioxidant-packed kombucha with a hint of lime. Osmanthus Mandarin: An auspicious pairing of “kam” and osmanthus to inspire better gut health. Apple Cinnamon: A delicately brewed kombucha with cinnamon to add warmth. Barley Rose: A brew full of floral hints of rose with the tinge of milkiness of Chinese pearl barley. Tangy Kedondong: The freshness of kampung inspired by kedondong asam boi. Sakura Lychee Rose: A  “flower power” pastel blend with notes of lychee. Mango Melur {SILVER: Fruit with Flowers}: Mango with a floral touch of jasmine. Juniper Rosemary: Woody and aromatic. Pineapple Lavender: The tangy sweetness of pineapple meets the calming notes of lavender. Blackberry Guava: Sweet and slightly tart with the fruity undertone of guava. Nutmeg: A cola-inspired blend. Nihon Yuzu Mint: The bright, citrusy essence of yuzu with the cool, refreshing taste of mint. Snow Chrysanthemum: Harvested from the snowy hills of Kunlun mountains. Kurma Honey: Characterized by its deep sweetness, reminiscent of the caramel-like richness of dates. Honey Plum: The sweetness of honey intertwining with the fruity essence o

This is one in a series about possible futures, published in Booch News over the coming weeks. Episode 9 appeared last week. New episodes drop every Friday. Overview Pharmaceutical companies partnered with kombucha producers to deliver medications via fermentation. Living probiotics became supportive therapy systems, enhancing the efficacy of conventional treatment. Mental health improved as gut-brain axis therapies reduced medication dependency for some patients. This episode follows Dr. Helena Marston’s development of probiotic kombucha strains that improved cancer treatment outcomes when used alongside chemotherapy. When fermented beverages became integrated into medical protocols, traditional pharmaceutical distribution adapted while neighborhood bio-brewers became complementary healthcare providers, expanding medical access through fermentation. Dr. Helena Marston: The Oncologist Who Sought Better Outcomes Dr. Helena Marston never intended to revolutionize supportive cancer care when she began brewing kombucha in the break room of her Stanford oncology lab in 2045. Exhausted by watching patients suffer through chemotherapy’s side effects, she researched whether probiotic supplements could improve treatment tolerance. Her crucial insight came when she realized that kombucha SCOBYs weren’t merely fermentation cultures—they were adaptable biological systems capable of producing compounds that could support conventional cancer therapy. Marston’s breakthrough research began with a challenging case: seven-year-old Christie Steinberg, daughter of her Palo Alto neighbor, was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Traditional chemotherapy protocols offered 73% survival rates, but with significant side effects that devastated quality of life. She proposed an experimental adjunct treatment: genetically modified kombucha cultures engineered to produce compounds that could enhance chemotherapy’s effectiveness while reducing its toxicity—not replacing medical treatment, but making it more tolerable and potentially more effective. A Neighbor in Need Dr. Helena Marston encountered her neighbor Gloria Steinberg at a backyard barbecue three days after Christie’s diagnosis. “Helena, I’m so glad to see you,” Gloria exclaimed. “We got Christie’s diagnosis. It’s not good. We start chemo next month.” Marston stopped, put down her drink, and gave her friend full attention. “I’m so sorry to hear that, Gloria. I’ve watched hundreds of families face this. The treatment works, but… the journey is brutal.” Steinberg struggled to hold herself together. “She’s only seven. She should be worried about her spelling test, not about losing her hair. Is there… is there anything that makes this easier?” Helena paused, then spoke. “Actually… there might be. It’s experimental, but I’ve been researching something. Can you come to my office tomorrow?” The next day, Mrs. Steinberg sat across from her friend in the medical office. “Here’s what I’m proposing, Gloria. Three steps.” She counted on her fingers. “One: Christie gets her prescribed chemotherapy—exactly as her oncologist recommends. This is non-negotiable. The chemo is what fights cancer. Two: We sequence her tumor and microbiome. This tells us exactly which supportive compounds might help her specifically. Three: I brew a personalized kombucha that Christie drinks daily. It won’t cure cancer, but early research suggests it might reduce side effects by 15-20%.” Mrs. Steinberg sounded doubtful. “And the risks?” “She’ll be monitored weekly. If anything looks wrong, we stop immediately. But I believe this could help her feel more like Christie during treatment, instead of just ‘the sick kid.'” Later that week, the Steinberg’s met with Dr. Medway, their oncologist at the clinic. They were met with skepticism. “Experimental probiotics?” The doctor looked askance. “Mrs. Steinberg, your daughter has a serious cancer. Stick to proven protocols.” “But the side effects…” Gloria glanced at Christie through the window. “Are manageable,” Medway insisted. “We have anti-nausea drugs, blood transfusions.” “I know, but…” Steinberg hesitated. “We’d like to try Dr. Marston’s approach. Alongside the chemo.” “I can’t stop you,” Medway replied. “But if anything goes wrong…” Marston entered the consulting room. “The choice is yours, Gloria. But we need to decide now. Christie starts chemo in two weeks. I need at least ten days to culture her personalized SCOBY.” A few months later… A few months into treatment, Christie sat at the dining table doing homework, thin but alert. Her mother watched from the kitchen, tear

Source: NotebookLM Dr. Cătălin Tîlvescu is a general surgeon and the coordinator of the Department of Hyperbaric Medicine at Nova Vita Hospital in Romania. In 2020, he founded Kombucius in his hometown of Târgu Mureș, Transylvania. Market opportunity The decision to launch was heavily influenced by a clear market opportunity in Romania. A certain level of awareness of kombucha existed in the country, as it was a popular home brew in communist times, often perceived as a “miracle cure” kept in a jar by grandmothers. Although he is a physician by training, his experience as a home brewer provided the foundational knowledge for his new venture. He had a long history with fermentation, growing up learning how to make wine and moonshine (spirits) with his grandparents. He discovered that Romania didn’t have any breweries producing kombucha at the time. The imported store-bought kombucha he tasted was often “really bad” and bland. He noted that the varieties being sold locally were “very harsh, very sour, very acidic,” leading him to question why consumers would purchase them. This quality gap inspired his core business philosophy: to make a kombucha that people would actually enjoy drinking, resulting in a product that is sweeter and less carbonated, akin to the Asian style, rather than the more sour, highly carbonated North European/American types. Overcoming challenges He overcame multiple challenges in establishing the business, such as learning to produce kombucha at scale, securing a suitable factory location, and addressing public perceptions of kombucha. All this as a one-person operation while working full-time as a physician in three hospitals. However, he recognized that he needed to rebuild his life, and opening a brewery became a viable option, particularly since his ex-wife, who was “not a fan of me doing home brewing,” was no longer a factor. The business served as a positive trajectory for his life, preventing him from becoming a “bitter, resentful, old divorced dad” and allowing him to truly find happiness and personal growth. He  remarked that starting a kombucha company was the “best decision that I have ever made in my life.” He previously held the “dream” of having a large beer brewery but lacked the necessary funds. Kombucha presented a similar opportunity that was more financially accessible. Inspiration The idea solidified after watching two key online videos: one showing a brewery tour that revealed the process was “not really hard to make,” and another featuring Sebastien Bureau at the 2019 Berlin Kombucha Summit explaining how to scale up production, which transformed the concept into a “possibility.” Based on insights gained from friends in the beer industry, he decided to bypass starting in his kitchen and immediately launch the company as a professional, legal brand, knowing that serious commercial operations require stability and consistency. Recognition The brand recently gained international recognition when its mint flavor won a World Kombucha Award, validating his approach of creating a less acidic, more palatable beverage. Videos Kombucius has published a library of over 60 YouTube videos (in Romanian) that cover everything from home-brewing tips to the scientific benefits of kombucha, and even the first episode of a humorous soap opera featuring Master Kombucius, who arrives on his motorcycle, swigging kombucha! Flavors Original Kombucha with green tea – for those who love the authentic and refreshing taste. Kombucha Rojizo Granada – an explosion of freshness and fruity flavor. Ginger Khan Kombucha – for those who love a little spicy craftsmanship in their life. Fresh Mint Kombucha – an award-winning refreshing combination. Kombucha Strong Hops with hops – a bold combination of freshness and bitter subtlety. Kombucius is available across Romania. Interview This lengthy conversation tells the story of the founding of Kombucius, including overcoming challenges of limited funds and doing much of the physical labor himself. Dr. Tîlvescu discusses his brewing process and the philosophy behind his products. Finally, he shares his long-term aspirations for scaling the business and offers entrepreneurial advice, emphasizing the importance of enjoying the process and maintaining one’s principles. The post Profile: Kombucius, Târgu Mureș, Romania appeared first on 'Booch News.

Jake Myers, the director of the new comedy-horror movie, Kombucha, visited San Francisco this weekend. He had flown in from Chicago (where the film was shot) to host a screening at the Balboa Theater’s ‘Another Hole in the Head‘ horror-fest. He sat down with Booch News to discuss his film and explain why he chose to make a horror movie about everyone’s favorite drink. I then attended the screening and formed my own opinion of what some kombucha lovers see as a gross misrepresentation of the beverage. Highly recommended Let me say now: this is a GREAT MOVIE, and anyone offended by this tongue-in-cheek satirical portrayal of kombucha should lighten up. After all, the dairy industry wasn’t offended when Wallace and Gromit picnicked on a moon made of cheese. No one took that seriously. Likewise, the movie portrays kombucha in an extreme, but humorous, manner, maybe not quite as unbelievably as a cartoon character and his dog slicing off a bit of cheese on the moon, but not that different in terms of kombucha in reality compared to its role as a plot device in this fantasy. The film has been described in reviews re-posted to Booch News in October, so check there if you want the details. Briefly, kombucha alters the behavior of hapless office workers forced to drink it with cult-like intensity by a corporation that wrings every ounce of energy, and eventually the life, out of their employees. Office screen savers read “Serve the job and the job serves you.” There’s no work-life balance. Sexually predatory female managers seduce their direct reports (“I want to have your baby! Give me your sperm!”). Cringe-worthy platitudes (“I’ll circle back to you on that”) are spouted in clinically spotless meeting rooms. This environment will be familiar to anyone who has worked in tech. It’s the world described by Dave Eggers in his 2013 novel, The Circle. Wide of the mark Those of us familiar with kombucha will spot the ways in which the ‘booch onscreen is not true to life. While many tech companies provide their employees with free kombucha, most do so on tap, rather than stocking refrigerators with dozens of bottles. To be fair, this is apparently how GT Dave’s personal refrigerator is stocked. Anyone who brews kombucha knows that if the ferment is not covered with a cloth you’ll get an infestation of fruit flies. Not so in the lobby of Simbio Corporation. Likewise, real SCOBYs look nothing like the opaque, backlit, yellow glass in the company lobby. The irony is, they often look more repulsive than the one in the film. Was the reality just too gross for a horror movie? Portraying kombucha as a tool of control and conformity, where people are forced to drink it, suffer unspeakable side-effects and withdrawal symptoms worthy of crack, OxyContin, or heroin, is a distortion of the free-wheeling, slightly ‘woke’ reputation most ‘booch lovers embody. On target There are, however, a number of places in the movie where the director totally nails the appeal of kombucha. The initial reluctance of an overweight coffee addict to even consider drinking it, and their surprise when they discover how pleasant it actually tastes. Their obvious pleasure in the first sip. The subsequent purification as bodily toxins are eliminated, although not usually in as colorful a manner as shown in the toilet bowl in the movie. The slightly addictive nature of ‘booch. Most of us who enjoy kombucha have occasional jonesing for another bottle. But not to the extent of having withdrawal symptoms that need us to be tied to a bed. A certain cult-like tendency among some true-believers (we know who we are!) who love a drink that is a minority interest and is still an object of disdain for some. Movie magic I’m no fan of horror movies. Indeed, I was uncomfortable with one of the short films shown before Kombucha. It was a ‘slasher’ flick, and I had to look away when the ax split open the girl’s head. This movie is nothing like that. There is some of what fans apparently refer to as ‘body horror’ – bacteria and yeast infestations in previously healthy people. Lesser versions of the infected zombies in The Last of Us. The main message is the dystopian exaggeration of the Silicon Valley office start-up culture where the office is a ‘family,’ and you are encouraged to burn the midnight oil to deliver the PowerPoint presentation next day. Think McKinsey consultants on steroids, or designer ‘booch. (Incidentally, and an absolute coincidence, are the parallels between the use of ‘personally customized’ kombucha in the film and a possible future described in Episode 2 of my ‘Fermented Future’ Sci-Fi series. Great minds, eh, Jake?) The film chose the brand name “Mother’s Secret” for the company brand of kombucha, which makes absolute sense given the ‘secret’ re

This is one in a series about possible futures, which will be published in Booch News over the coming weeks. Episode 8 appeared last week. New episodes drop every Friday. Overview Fermentation cooperatives represent one effective social organizing principle among many. In the future, kombucha cafes could replace bars and coffee shops as primary gathering spaces—not because the beverages possess magical properties, but because fermentation creates affordable spaces where people gather around shared productive work. This episode explores Mumbai’s “Fermentation District,” where bio-breweries have become community hubs, enabling stronger civic engagement. These spaces succeeded by combining smart urban design, economic cooperation, and cultural preservation into environments that made authentic connection easier than virtual isolation. The Inheritance of Empty Buildings By 2052, colonial-era buildings in Mumbai’s abandoned Ballard Estate business district stood empty after the Great Flood of July 26, 2047, drove businesses to higher ground. Climate refugee and fermentation consultant Khushi Sengupta—one of the Darjeeling tea plantation refugees who had fled to the Thames Valley Mega-tower together with the Tamang family—traveled back to India to visit family and help rebuild the shattered city. Her relatives had made the grueling 1,300-mile journey west from the Darjeeling foothills to Mumbai after their once-thriving tea plantations were devastated by climate change. It is early October. The monsoon rains have ended. Khushi stands in a gutted office building, water stains still visible three meters up the marble walls. She’s meeting municipal planner Rajesh Krishnan, who spreads architectural drawing across a ruined reception desk while Khushi’s eight-year-old daughter Priya explores the echoing space. “The flood created a crisis,” Rajesh explains. “The government wants temporary housing—stack refugees in minimal square footage, provide basic services, move on. But I’ve seen that approach fail in Delhi, Kolkata, and Chennai. Dense housing without social infrastructure creates slums, not communities.” Khushi watches her daughter discover an old fermentation crock in what was once the building’s cafeteria—remnants of someone’s office kombucha hobby. “What if we built around production instead of consumption?” she asks. “In the Thames Valley tower, the tea gardens and fermentation floors weren’t just amenities; they were integral to the process. They gave people something to do together. They created economic relationships.” Rajesh considers this. The 440 lakh rupees allocated to this district could fund either 1,000 housing units with no common spaces or 700 units with shared productive facilities. The conventional approach prioritizes maximum density. However, traditional methods have produced Mumbai’s sprawling slums, where civic engagement is nearly impossible—no gathering spaces, no economic cooperation, everyone struggling individually. “Show me what you’re imagining,” he says. “Back in the UK,” she explains, “we discovered that when people brew together, they talk. When they talk, they coordinate. When they coordinate, they govern themselves. Fermentation doesn’t create democracy—it creates the conditions where democracy can happen. Regular rhythms, shared investment, economic interdependence.” Six Months Later Khushi’s visit has lasted longer than intended, but no matter. Rajesh Krishnan has secured preliminary approval from city authorities for an experimental fermentation space. He’s looking to Khushi to replicate the Thames Valley tower’s success in Mumbai. If only things were that simple. The space is chaotic—babies crying, elders arguing about fermentation technique in four languages, someone’s SCOBY is contaminated and they need to start over. This is not the harmonious vision Rajesh sold to the municipal government. Narayan, a skeptical elder from a traditional Brahmin family, insists proper fermentation requires specific ritual purity. Fatima, a Muslim woman, questions the halal status of kombucha, wanting confirmation that the fermentation process doesn’t produce haram alcohol levels. A Tamil family wants to recreate their grandmother’s rasam kombucha but lacks the ingredients. A couple from Nagaland has never fermented anything and feels overwhelmed. Mountain Bee Innovation Amira Islam, daughter of Honey Islam, founder of Mountain Bee Kombucha, watches Khushi navigate these conflicts. “This is why industrial-scale kombucha failed,” she observes quietly. “They thought they could standardize living processes. But fermentation is always local—local ingredients, local microbes, local knowledge, local preferences.” Amira operates the district’s most experimental bio-brewery in the Mountai

This is one in a series about possible futures, which will be published in Booch News over the coming weeks. Episode 7 appeared last week. New episodes drop every Friday. Overview Peer-to-peer flavor-sharing platforms enabled home brewers to distribute taste profiles as digital files. Blockchain-verified SCOBY genetics allowed anyone to recreate award-winning kombucha flavors. Traditional beverage companies lost control as open-source fermentation recipes spread globally. This episode follows teenage hacker Luna Reyes as she reverse-engineers Heineken’s proprietary “A-yeast” strain and the century-old master strain used for Budweiser, releasing them under Creative Commons license, triggering a flavor renaissance that made corporate beverages taste like cardboard by comparison. Luna Reyes: The Seventeen-Year-Old Who Liberated Flavor Luna Reyes was brewing kombucha in her Oakland garage when she changed the course of human history. The daughter of Mexican immigrants, she had learned fermentation from her grandmother while teaching herself bioinformatics through YouTube tutorials and volunteering at the Counter Culture Labs Maker Space on Shattuck Avenue. By fifteen, she was running the Bay Area’s most sophisticated home laboratory, utilizing jury-rigged DNA sequencers and microscopes constructed from smartphone cameras. Her breakthrough came in February 2043 while investigating why her kombucha never tasted quite like expensive craft varieties and was different again from her grandmother’s home brew. Using Crispr techniques learned from online forums, Luna began reverse-engineering the microbial genetics of premium alcoholic beverages. Her target wasn’t kombucha—it was the closely guarded yeast strains that gave corporate beers their distinctive flavors. Luna hunched over her microscope, examining bacterial cultures from her latest kombucha batch. Around her, salvaged DNA sequencers hummed, fermentation vessels bubbled, and computer screens displayed multi-hued patterns of genetic sequences. Her grandmother, Rosa, entered carrying a tray with three glasses of homemade kombucha. “Mija, you’ve been working for six hours straight. Drink something.” Luna accepted the glass without looking up. “Abuela, your kombucha tastes better than anything I can buy in stores and the ones I’ve experimented with. Why? I’m using the same base ingredients—tea, sugar, water—but mine never has this complexity.” Her grandmother laughed. “Because I’ve been feeding this SCOBY for forty years. It knows what to do. You can’t rush relationships.” Luna’s sister Maya, lounging against a workbench, waved her phone. “Luna, people have noticed your forum post about Health-Ade’s fermentation process. Someone says you’re wasting your time trying to replicate commercial kombuchas.” “I’m not trying to replicate them,” Luna said, finally looking up. “I’m trying to understand why their kombucha tastes different than that I make at home. It’s not the ingredients. It’s not the process. It’s the microbial genetics.” Rosa sat down beside her granddaughter. “When I was young in Oaxaca, every family had their own kombucha culture, passed down generation to generation. Each tasted different because the bacteria adapted to their environment, their ingredients, their care. We had a saying, Hay tantas fermentaciones en el mundo como estrellas en el cielo nocturno – there are as many ferments in the world as stars in the night sky. The big companies want every bottle to be identical. That kills what makes fermentation special.” “Exactly!” Luna pulled up genetic sequences on her screen. “I’ve been reverse-engineering samples from different commercial kombuchas. Health-Ade, GT’s, Brew Dr—they all have consistent microbial profiles.” The Great Heist: Cracking Corporate DNA Luna’s first major hack targeted Heineken’s legendary “A-yeast” strain, developed in 1886 by Dr. Hartog Elion—a student of renowned chemist Louis Pasteur—in the company’s Amsterdam laboratory and protected by over 150 years of trade secret law. Using samples obtained from discarded brewery waste (technically legal under the “garbage doctrine”), she spent six months mapping the strain’s complete genetic sequence in her makeshift lab. The breakthrough required extraordinary ingenuity. Luna couldn’t afford professional gene sequencers, so she modified a broken Illumina iSeq100 purchased on eBay for $200. Her sequencing runs took weeks rather than hours; her results were identical to those produced by million-dollar laboratory equipment. Her detailed laboratory notebooks, later published as The Garage Genomics Manifesto, became essential reading for the biotech hacker movement. The Budweiser project proved even mor

I sat down with William Esslinger of Confluence Kombucha in St. Louis, Missouri. We’d just left the three-day KBI conference in Barcelona and were having lunch at Munich Airport before catching our respective connecting flights. It was William’s first time in Germany, if you count being in an airport transit lounge as being in a country. What follows is an edited transcript of our conversation. The full audio is available as a podcast at the end of this post. The Confluence Kombucha Fermentory & Ping Pong Club is located at The Fox Den, 2501 S. Jefferson Avenue, Suite 102, St. Louis, MO 63104. It is open from 11 a.m.–7 p.m. Thursday through Sunday. Confluence Kombucha is also a regular vendor at the Tower Grove Farmers’ Market. Booch News: How did you discover kombucha? I started brewing kombucha in 2009 and working in kitchens all in a span of three days. I’d graduated with my master’s in media literacy education, and wanted to teach about the constructs of media and how to use media, how to create with different kinds of media, video, photography, using sound, all that kind of stuff. And so that’s my background. But I couldn’t find a job, so I started working as a dishwasher at age 29. I was making six bucks an hour with a master’s degree. I ordered my first kombucha culture online. I’d been drinking kombucha for about a year and a half prior to that, and it basically healed my ulcers that I’d had since I was five years old. That kombucha completely healed it. I haven’t had any incidents since. I can still remember as a young person having so much pain all the time. Every single day, a burning, like an ice pick in my intestines, every time I ate. I had this severe problem. And it then drinking kombucha cured it. So, I tell people, if you really want to do this kombucha thing, you need to be drinking it. Every day. Maybe take a day off here and there. But when people start, if they’re very used to a crappy diet, they’re going to feel a little worse, maybe because they’re flushing out stuff. But you get such a vibe out of drinking every day. That was just the beginning of the healing journey with kombucha. So much more healing has happened physically and mentally through this process. Just living with the SCOBYs every day. I didn’t really think about it as a business. BN: How did your career in catering take off? I’d started working in kitchens, and graduated from dish washing to working as a chef. After about three months of dish washing, they had me come on as a prep chef during the day. It was a big corporate restaurant, and I got pretty bored with it, but I had met someone I went to photography school with. He was opening a new restaurant called Blood & Sand with one of the top chefs in St. Louis at the time. He gave me a job, saying they can’t pay much, but they gave me an education. I got the last cook position on the line. And they didn’t really know what to do with me because I was brand-new, even though I’m almost 30 now. They said they would treat me like I knew nothing. And that was the best education. On-the-job training. BN: How did your career in the culinary world prepare you to run a kombucha business? We started fermenting stuff right away. They wanted me to make some kimchi. The chef didn’t know how to do it. But I had spent a couple of years in Korea and learned when I was over there. And I had just started brewing kombucha. It started to feel like fermentation was my path. Food was my path. And since it cured my ulcers, I started to be able to eat all the things I was never able to eat. I never thought of becoming a chef or anything like that because food was such a pain point for me. Then they started handing me the pastry stuff. Because they were all line cooks. They didn’t want to deal with this finicky shit with the temperature and all that. It didn’t fit in with everything else. But my background in photography, doing black and white film developing, the exacting process, the temperature, was already there for me. They started giving me one little project at a time. And they’re like, this kid’s nailing it, right? So they basically just made me a pastry chef. And I was making like $10 an hour, which was great. BN: How did working in the kitchens lead to opening a commercial kombucha business? I kept working in restaurants. And then, I finally thought maybe I got something here with the kombucha. I was developing flavors from the beginning. I kept all my notes. I now have over 800 flavors. I’ve got a spreadsheet of everything I’ve been doing since we opened our doors. Before I left for this trip, I did three new kombuchas in one week. I’ve been doing everything on draft and kegs since we opened our brick-and-mortar in 2016. It’s been all kegs. The idea was just to have a tap room. And the first iteration was a tap roo

This is one in a series about possible futures, which will be published in Booch News over the coming weeks. Episode 6 appeared last week. New episodes drop every Friday. Introduction Legacy beverage corporations attempting hostile takeovers of kombucha startups failed to understand the living systems involved. Their sterile production methods eliminated beneficial microorganisms, while regulatory capture backfired as health authorities mandated probiotic content. Mega-Cola’s final CEO, James Morrison, desperately tried fermenting cola using SCOBYs, creating undrinkable disasters. This episode chronicles the corporation’s transformation from global giant to urban composting service, with former executives becoming mushroom farmers in Detroit’s abandoned factories. The $49 Billion Graveyard: When Giants Couldn’t Learn to Dance Harvard Business School’s legendary case study “The Mega-Cola Kombucha Catastrophe” became required reading for understanding how industrial thinking proved fatal in the biological economy. Between 2035 and 2042, legacy beverage corporations spent $48.7 billion attempting to acquire kombucha startups, only to discover that living systems couldn’t be purchased—they could only be cultivated. Mega-Cola’s acquisition spree began aggressively in 2035 under CEO James Morrison, a chemical engineer before ascending to the C-suite. He’d once loved the alchemy of bubbles and sweetness. His father had worked at a bottling plant; he’d grown up thinking carbonation was progress. He viewed kombucha as merely another “disruption” to be absorbed and had become a champion of “hydration portfolios”—a polite euphemism for diversifying out of soda into teas, waters, and ferments. The company spent $12.7 billion acquiring 47 kombucha brands, from market leader Health-Ade to smaller artisanal producers like Portland’s Brew Dr Kombucha. Morrison’s strategy seemed logical: leverage Mega-Cola’s distribution network and manufacturing scale to dominate the emerging probiotic market. The Sterilization Disaster The first catastrophic failure occurred when Mega-Cola attempted to scale Humm Kombucha production at its Oregon facility. Morrison stood before a 10,000-gallon fermentation tank—ten times the size of any used by the acquired kombucha companies. Chief Science Officer Dr. Hiram Walsh explained the modifications they’d made. “We’ve adapted our quality control protocols from our soft drink lines,” Walsh said proudly. “Every input is filtered, pasteurized, and chemically treated. We’ve eliminated 99.9% of microbial contamination risk.” Walsh pulled up charts showing their testing results. “Batch consistency is perfect. Zero deviation. Every bottle identical.” Morrison smiled. “Exactly what we wanted. When do we start distribution?” “Next week,” Walsh confirmed. “We’re calling it MegaBucha. Focus groups love the name.” One week later, Morrison sat in an emergency meeting. The first consumer feedback was catastrophic. Walsh read from report after report: “‘Tastes like carbonated vinegar.’ ‘Chemical aftertaste.’ ‘Nothing like real kombucha.’ ‘Dead and flat.’ Return rates are 87%.” Walsh looked confused. “I don’t understand it. The bacteria counts are perfect. We followed their recipes exactly.” On the teleconference screen, Health-Ade founder Vanessa Dew shook her head. “You killed it. Your ‘quality control’ eliminated every living organism. Kombucha isn’t about sterility—it’s about controlled biological diversity. You can’t pasteurize and filter kombucha and expect it to remain the same. You’ve simply made acidic sugar water.” Morrison spluttered, “We spent $2.1 billion acquiring your company. We’re not walking away because of ‘quality control’ issues.” “It’s not quality control—it’s biology,” Vanessa explained. “Kombucha cultures need biodiversity to thrive. Your system is built to prevent exactly that.” Morrison’s jaw tightened. “Then we’ll adjust the process. Keep some bacteria alive.” Vanessa sighed. “Your entire facility is designed to kill microbes. Your pipes, your tanks, your air filtration, your worker protocols—everything optimized for sterility. You’d have to rebuild from scratch. And even then, you’d need to fundamentally rethink how you approach production. Living systems don’t work like machines.” The company had overlooked the success of the UK’s ROBOT Kombucha, the “A.I. Cola” replicated cola’s taste in a fermented drink, becoming the beverage of choice for adults who had first tasted it as teenagers when it was introduced in 2025.  

I visited Bioma Kombucha on the final day of my trip to Barcelona for the World Kombucha Awards and KBI European Summit. Christopher Davite is the founder of Bioma Kombucha in Barcelona. His personal health struggles, including ADHD, depression, and digestive issues, along with an unexpected allergic reaction to pollen after moving to Vancouver, led him to discover the healing benefits of kombucha. Inspired by his own transformative experience and his grandfather’s knowledge of medicinal plants, Davite shifted from a career in architecture and personal training to founding Bioma Kombucha in 2017, motivated by a mission to empower people with an affordable, functional beverage. The company focuses on creating a high-quality, sustainably produced product using locally sourced medicinal plants. From the first sip, I knew I had found something truly special. The benefits were astounding. Every day, I felt my body and mind fill with renewed energy, propelling me to improve my life in ways I had never imagined. Kombucha inspired me to share this gift with the world, with the mission of “empowering people from within.” Today, my message is simple: “Take care of your body, and your body will take care of you.” Kombucha is not just a beverage for me; it’s a way of life, a source of energy and well-being. I hope my story inspires you to discover the wonderful benefits it can offer and to find your own path to a healthier and happier life.” Branded initially as ‘Kashaya Kombucha’ selling a green tea classic, in 2021 he rebranded to Bioma and expanded the range to add seven more flavors. Production and sustainability Sustainability is at the heart of their business. Christopher drew on his background in interior architecture and design to renovate an old garage that is his production facility. All the building materials were sourced from within Catalonia. This includes cork insulation and marble-based paint in the fermentation room. The low pH in the paint means nothing can grow in it. He explains that this has a significant impact on the SCOBY’s overall well-being and health. The walk-in cooler was constructed with natural mortar and insulated with hay behind a cork lining. When empty, it smells like a hay barn. The Bioma bottles are screen-printed, so there is no glue or labels, making them easier to recycle. Some are on their 10th life cycle. Bioma was the first to produce kombucha at an industrial scale in Barcelona and has grown into a team of eight people. Method Bioma uses a traditional brewing process with native medicinal and aromatic plants and premium ingredients to produce authentic kombucha. The Rwandan green tea is cold-brewed overnight for 12-16 hours (an environmental saving in and of itself). Cold brewing brings out smooth, natural notes that harmonize perfectly with the kombucha’s acidic profile. This method preserves the maximum amount of nutrients and probiotic properties, ensuring a healthy experience with every sip. They then add the starter, ferment for 7 days, and then undergo an additional 2 to 5 days of secondary fermentation with flavorings sourced from foraged ingredients or local farmers. Christopher periodically chants to the kombucha while it ferments, which he believes enhances the brew’s medicinal resonance. Chakra-aligned flavors Bioma Kombucha believes in the holistic connection between body, mind, and spirit. Their kombucha is rich in probiotics and antioxidants that not only improve digestive health but can also contribute to overall well-being. A healthy digestive system helps keep energy flowing properly, which can positively influence the balance of your chakras. Their kombucha is formulated with medicinal and aromatic herbs that help unblock the chakras. Ingredients such as lavender, rosemary, lemon balm, and chamomile not only provide a delicious flavor but also have properties that benefit energy and inner balance. While an infusion is great, it is during the fermentation stage that the metabolites and essential oils get introduced. They all have the specifics of the plant and how they interact during the fermentation stage and the pH and yeast levels. Vida Verde, their Classic Kombucha of cold-infused Rwandan high-mountain green tea, is the base for all the other flavors. This was the original kombucha they sold when the brand was known as ‘Kashaya’–the Ayurvedic term for a medicinal drink. The full range is infused with herbs, flowers, and fruits that align with the seven mystical chakras in the human body. Chakra is a Sanskrit word meaning “wheel” and refers to the energy centers in our bodies. The chakras serve the same function in our body as electrical outlets in a room: they distribute the energy that enters through the crown chakra to organs, glands, and muscles. Here are the seven chakras paired with the corresponding Bioma flavor. Base Chakra (Muladhara) Seasonal Star – The wint

This is one in a series about possible futures, which will be published in Booch News over the coming weeks. Episode 5 appeared last week. New episodes drop every Friday. Introduction In the mid-21st century, rising seas and extreme weather rendered traditional agriculture impossible, but kombucha cultures thrived in controlled environments. Vertical fermentation towers became humanity’s primary food production method, with kombucha serving as a crucial source of nutrition. Climate refugees built resilient communities around shared SCOBY cultures that could withstand disasters. A critical challenge for kombucha production was tea availability, which became increasingly problematic on a planet where climate had reached a tipping point. Fortunately, tea plantations—like French vineyards that migrated across the Channel to England due to global warming—proved adaptable. This episode describes the expansion of tea plantations housed in vertical agricultural towers in the United Kingdom. These symbiotic systems proved more resilient to warmer temperatures than traditional agriculture. The Great Tea Migration: From Tropics to Temperate Towers By 2045, the traditional tea-growing regions of Darjeeling, Ceylon, and Fujian had become uninhabitable wastelands. Rising temperatures, erratic monsoons, and soil degradation forced humanity to reimagine where and how tea gardens could survive. The solution emerged from an unlikely source: the pioneering tea estates of Britain’s Celtic fringe, whose temperature-tolerant Camellia sinensis varieties became the foundation for humanity’s vertical fermentation revolution. The Cornwall Prophecy: Tregothnan’s Vision Realized Dr. Sarah Boscawen-Chen—a scion of the estate family and daughter of fermentation pioneer Dr. Lila Chen—pioneered the integration of tea cultivation with kombucha production. Her breakthrough insight was that, rather than importing tea leaves from distant plantations at great carbon cost, enclosed vertical towers could simultaneously grow tea and brew kombucha, creating closed-loop ecosystems in which plant and microbial systems symbiotically enhanced each other. What began in 2005 as Jonathon Jones‘s ambitious experiment at the Tregothnan Tea Estate in Cornwall—England’s first commercial tea estate—evolved into the template for post-climate agriculture. The estate’s sheltered valleys, with acidic soil and a mild climate moderated by the sea, made Tregothnan ideal for tea cultivation. Located eight miles inland from the coast, the tea garden was shielded from corrosive salt air. The plantation initially seemed a botanical curiosity, producing boutique teas for local markets. But as global warming devastated traditional growing regions, Tregothnan’s hardy cultivars proved prophetic. By 2055, Tregothnan’s original 20-acre plantation had expanded into a 150-story vertical tea forest, its crystalline towers rising from Cornwall’s coast like botanical cathedrals. The estate’s heirloom varieties—originally adapted to British weather patterns—thrived in controlled environments that precisely mimicked their ancestral growing conditions while protecting them from the climate chaos outside. They extended the original Cornish innovation of the iconic biomes at the nearby Eden Project. No One’s Cup of Tea The BBC documentary No One’s Cup of Tea, broadcast in 2045, revealed the scale of disaster in the world’s major tea-growing regions. While Britons were left “gasping for a cuppa” as prices skyrocketed, growers in India and elsewhere lost their livelihoods. The Chinese government, flush with its successful invasion of Taiwan, barred BBC camera crews from plantations; there were no such restrictions in India. The moving documentary footage remains unforgettable: Sabnam Tamang stands among dying tea plants, the soil cracked and lifeless beneath her feet. The temperature reads 41°C—impossible for Camellia sinensis to survive. Around her, workers harvest what they know will be the estate’s final crop. Mardin approaches her mother, carrying a withered tea leaf. “Mama, the irrigation system failed again. The aquifer is empty.” Sabnam takes the leaf, crumbling it between her fingers. “This estate has produced tea for over 200 years. Our ancestors planted these original bushes stolen from China by the British. And now…” She doesn’t finish. She doesn’t need to. Dr. Boscawen-Chen, flown over by the BBC as an advisor, examines the soil with portable equipment, recording data. “Mrs. Tamang, I’m sorry. I know what this means to your family.” “Do you?” Sabnam’s voice carries an edge. “Your Cornwall estate thrives while ours dies. British tea survives because you got lucky with latitude and ocean currents. We weren’t lucky.” Sarah meets her anger with compassion. “You’re right. Ge