Interested in becoming a brew master? Although kombucha can seem hard to get in to, there are plenty of great products on the market that make the whole process dazzlingly simple.
We’ve made sure to review the most customer-approved, beginner friendly kombucha starter kits on the market.
1. Joshua Tree Kombucha
Complete with everything you need to perfect your first batch, the Joshua Tree Kombucha kit makes brewing healthy and safe ‘booch a reality. The entire kit comes with one starter culture, one starter tea, one glass gallon jug, one sturdy lid, Ph tester strips, temperature gauge, and easy to follow instructions.
Perfect for beginners and experts alike, this kit allows users to brew one high quality gallon of kombucha right from the comfort of their home. Unlike store bought kombucha, this home made fermented drink comes at a very cost effective price.
Customers trust the Joshua Tree brand since the products are certified safe on arrival at your doorstep. Treated in a sanitized commercial kitchen, the manufacturers exercise exacting caution and routinized growing procedures in SCOBY production.
In contrast with other kits, the gallon jug is made from one hundred percent high density glass that’s guaranteed to not develop mold during the fermentation process. You can rest assured that the organic teas, culture, and sugars will brew properly regardless of your experience level.
For the most part, customers appreciate how the kit contains everything needed for mastering the fermentation process. Additionally, the Joshua Tea boasts a unique flavor that pairs well with the provided black and green teas.
Pros
- Geared for both beginners and professional fermenters
- Kit comes with high quality glass jug and all testing implements needed at a low price
- Customers love the uniquely strong taste produced by this kit
Cons
- Some complain it takes manufacturers two weeks to ship domestically
- Some complain that specific instructions were unclear
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2. The Kombucha Shop
Producing excellently pungent flavor, customers love the trusted Kombucha Shop brand for marketing kits of consistently high quality. When this particular manufacturer released their first home brewing kit on Amazon, it quickly became the Number One best seller in the kombucha category – and it’s no secret why.
This deluxe kit contains everything you’ll need: industry certified cultures, one SCOBY pouch, one thick glass brew jar, one temperature gauge, loose leaf tea, pH strips, and more.
More than any other kit on the market, this kit includes tons of extra educational material, pamphlets, and intuitive instructions for first time brewers. By taking all the guess work out of the experience, customers can leave their anxieties at the door.
Using triple-filtered water and high quality sugars, all Kombucha Shop cultures are carefully cultivated in one domestic US brewery.
The six week aged kombucha culture is sure ferment properly, resulting in a brew with strong flavor and aroma. Regardless of when you first open the kit, the kombucha culture is totally shelf safe.
If your batch doesn’t successfully ferment, no worries: just reach out to the Kombucha Shop for a free replacement.
Ultimately, customers appreciate the high quality result and deluxe loose leaf tea included with the product. While most other kits skimp on these small details, the Kombucha Shop has spared no expense with their first major starter kit release.
That said, users should be aware that this deluxe kit is somewhat more expensive than most other kits, owing to the good reputation of the manufacturer. Despite this slight drawback, it’s still much more cost effective to home brew with this kit rather than opt for store bought alternatives.
Pros
- Comes with high quality brewing gear and premium loose leaf tea
- Provides rich, in depth instructional and educational materials on kombucha
- Each batch is known for producing consistently strong, high quality flavor without fail
Cons
- Somewhat more expensive than most other starter kits
3. Urban Kitchen
Time and again, the Urban Kitchen Kit remains one of the best sellers around the holiday season. This compact, cute kit provides everything needed to make one gallon of refined and black tea based kombucha.
The kit includes: one gallon glass jar, organic black tea, cane sugar, one large SCOBY, tight weave cloth, a rubber band, and an in-depth guide to brewing kombucha. More picky customers can opt for the Deluxe package that includes a stainless steel bottling funnel, filter, and a ten personal-sized bottle kit.
Uniquely, buying just one kit enables customers to make a lifetime of kombucha bottles. After investing in the initial product, users can keep redeeming for low cost SCOBY kombucha cultures to make extremely cost effective kombucha.
If you’re providing this kit as a gift, you can either choose to receive your kombucha culture with the package or use a claim code to get a fresh one later on. This way, you can receive a fresh SCOBY whenever you’re ready.
Additionally, if your first brew fails to ferment, simply reach out to the Craft A company to receive a new SCOBY completely free of charge.
Overall, customers appreciate the Urban Kitchen starter kit because it simplifies the process of brewing as much as possible. Though more in-depth materials are provided, buyers simply need to follow the outlined instructions to fully realize a pungent batch of healthy kombucha.
Since each kombucha culture is provided at such a low cost for the customer every time they choose to make a batch, it’s extremely cost effective to opt for this kit as opposed to others. If you intend to brew lots of kombucha in the future, this kit provides excellent financial returns.
Pros
- Customers can claim kombucha culture now or later for maximal freshness guarantees
- Provides extremely simple step-by-step brewing instructions
- Company provides very cheap kombucha cultures for repeat fermenters
Cons
- Customers will likely need to buy new tight weave cloth when making repeat batches – or opt for a plastic lid
4. Get Kombucha
You’re unlikely to find a most cost effective starter kit than the option provided by the Get Kombucha brand. Costing just pennies per bottle, users are able to brew over forty bottles of kombucha tea in one go.
That’s right, the entire kit comes with everything you could possibly need to make your first five gallons. According to customers, the kit contains the largest kombucha culture available in any starter kit and a whopping sixty servings of organic loose leaf tea blend.
With a fully illustrated recipe book, online videos, and tons of tutorials, it’s easy for anyone of any experience level to get started with this kit. In fact, the company boasts that they’ve converted over 400,000 individuals into recurring kombucha drinkers.
Unlike competitor brands, this starter kit comes with one of the largest SCOBYs that you’re going to find. The 6.5 inch diameter, robust SCOBY can withstand all sorts of temperature extremes during the shipping process.
Moreover, if the culture fails to ferment, you can either opt for a replacement SCOBY or receive your full investment back. This kit makes crafting tasty, unique kombucha blends both fun and painless.
Users should know that this particular kombucha culture is infused with probiotics, in addition to vitamins B1, B2, B6, B12, and C. The number of healthy acids infused in the culture are almost too numerous to name.
If you’re looking to seriously explore kombucha as an everyday health drink, this kit is perfect for you. With that in mind, it may not be the right product for someone who is on the fence about incorporating the health drink into their life.
Considering that the product makes a huge batch of kombucha, it’s recommended that you first try kombucha teas from the brand before completely investing.
Pros
- Comes with tons of extra tutorials, online videos, and instructions
- Most cost effective option with greatest amount of kombucha generated
- Kombucha culture is infused with additional acids, vitamins, and other healthy properties
Cons
- May be overkill for those who are new to kombucha
- The Ins and Outs of Home-Brewed Kombucha
Before you chip in for a shiny new kombucha starter kit, you should know why so many are going crazy for it in the first place.
For those who need a refresher, kombucha is simply a fermented tea drink that’s been consumed for over a millennium. Other preserved foods, like pickled radishes and kimchi, should ring a bell.
Benefits of Drinking Kombucha
It’s difficult to properly outline just how many health benefits regularly drinking kombucha can bring. Chock full of antioxidants, this probiotic-rich tea is well recognized for its ability to boost the immune system, improve the drinker’s energy, and kill harmful bacteria in the body.
We’re going to outline how this simple health drink may protect against cancer, type II diabetes, heart disease, and a host of other poor health conditions.
By virtue of how kombucha is produced, it’s a huge source of probiotics. During the process of fermentation, bacteria and yeast form a thin film on the surface of the liquid.
The blob that slowly forms over the course of a week is known as a SCOBY, or a Symbiotic Colony of Bacteria and Yeast. The bacteria features acidic compounds, trace amounts of alcohol, carbonated gases, and lactic acid that all may have positive probiotic function.
For those who don’t know, probiotic foods are linked with decreased inflammation, weight loss, improved digestion, and improved mood. Considering that inflammation is one of the primary propagators of chronic pain and depression, it makes sense why kombucha may have such a variegated health effect.
Aside from probiotics, kombucha is also proven to contain antioxidants and other bioactive health-infused compounds.
Since the drink is made from green tea, it also offers the health benefits of tea itself: polyphenols, anti-fungals, and nutrients that reduce the risk of specific cancers. Moreover, kombucha features a diverse array of antioxidants that fight free radicals in the body.
Moreover, kombucha can kill harmful bacterias. The drink is abundant in the vinegar-associated compound acetic acid, which is known to process harmful micro-organisms. This anti-microbial acid can suppress the reproduction of bad bacteria, which are known to cause infection.
All in all, it’s hard to outline all the health benefits of kombucha since they are so varied and numerous. If you like the pungent taste of this drink, it’s worth it to adopt into your everyday health routine.
How Kombucha is Prepared
Though it’s often needlessly complicated, kombucha tea is simply made from tea, sugar, bacteria, and yeast. Once you get some experience under your belt, it’s really not hard to brew a good tasting and safe batch of fermented tea.
At first, kombucha just starts out as tea with too much sugar. Later on, it slowly ferments as the brewer adds the SCOBY. During the fermentation process, the bacteria eats most of the sugar. Over the course of a week (or longer), the kombucha culture transforms the tea into a carbonated, sour drink that’s lower in sugar and calories.
Here’s a step by step guide of how kombucha is prepared:
1. Water is brought to boil and tea is stirred in. The tea is removed from heat and can sugar is added. Once dissolved, the tea is allowed to steep until it becomes cool.
2. The tea is added to a jar and the SCOBY is added. The jar is draped in cheesecloth or a breathable plastic lid secured with a rubber band.
3. The jar is kept out of direct sunlight and allowed to rest for seven to ten days.
4. When the kombucha has the appropriate balance between sweet and tart, it’s ready for the fermenter to bottle.
The Risks of Ill-Prepared Kombucha
Like any fermented food, there are some risks associated with kombucha consumption. Every responsible brewer should be aware of these risks before they start.
First and foremost, pregnant women and breast-feeding mothers should steer clear of the ‘booch. Since it may contain alcohols, it is possibly unsafe for this subsection of the population to drink.
Those with digestive complications like Irritable Bowel Syndrome and those who have an immunodeficiency condition should not drink kombucha.
For those with stable health, kombucha is mostly safe to drink. However, ill-prepared brews may cause nausea, vomiting, head pain, allergic reactions, and yeast infection. If your brew smells stinky, moldy, or unpleasant, you should absolutely avoid drinking it.
