The essence of kombucha is in the rich, microbial culture, and as with any living organism, it needs food to thrive.  The healthy bacteria of the kombucha culture feeds on the nutrients found in tea leaves.  Our first step at KULTCHA Kombucha is to select good quality, loose leaf tea to brew a rich and healthy base for the cultures to thrive in.  We slow steep our tea at moderate temperatures to minimize nutrient loss and thereby offer our KULTCHA the highest quality food source.  We use both Green Tea and Oolong Tea as the base for KULTCHA Kombucha because these two tea types are less processed than black teas.  The less processed the tea leaves - the more nutrients are available to feed a healthy microbial culture.  Next, we add around 5% sugar to feed the yeast.

(aka 'Enter the Dragon')

Next, we add our 'DRAGON SPIT' SCOBY to the sweet tea in our fermentation tanks. The SCOBY (Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast) is our proprietary live culture, cultivated in-house without any additives.  We do not make use of 'kombucha-like additives' in the production of KULTCHA Kombucha.  Our culture is raw, live, unpasteurized, 100% natural and certified healthy!  So...what exactly is the SCOBY?  To look at, it's a deep golden liquid with a thick cellulose, or pellicle, on top.  It is made up of live bacteria and yeasts that symbiotically feed off the tea nutrients and sugar and together produce a broad spectrum of healthy organic acids, probiotics, vitamins and nutrients. 

Chinese Legend has it that Dragon's Saliva was an elixir of immortality!  Our obsession with naming our SCOBY and our company 'Dragon Saliva' is further inspired by the fact that we have launched our business in 2024 - The Year of the Dragon in the Chinese Zodiac.

The yeast feeds on the sugar (reducing the end product sugar content to +/- 3%).  As the yeast consumes the sugar, it generates ethanol (alcohol) that is critical to the fermentation process.  The bacteria in turn feed on the polyphenols, L-thiamine, caffeine and other nutrients found in the tea leaves and together, the bacteria and yeast ferment the tea base into a live and healthy kombucha over a period of 10 to 28 days (depending on what flavor profile we are targeting for the bottled KULTCHA.)

Ah...the flavoring.  Or more aptly - the alchemy! First thing to note - we only use 100% natural, whole fruits, herbs and spices.  You will find zero artificial, concentrate or additive in our brewery.  Ever.  Peeling, dicing and pulping 75kg of fresh Taiwan pineapple for one batch of KULTCHA is a labor of love that is totally worth it for the end results!  You will taste the authenticity of real fruit and herbs in every bottle of KULTCHA - that's one of the reasons we get to say we are premium.  Now then, it's not a simple matter of adding some fruit to flavor.  Due to the organic acids in the 'booch, as well as the ongoing fermentation process, adding fresh fruit and herbs is an art that has our R&D Lab (and our Chief Alchemist Dave), constantly developing and perfecting.  The acids and fermentation change the nature and taste of the fruit and you end up with an alchemy that either works, or just does not!  For example, we will never, ever again R&D a batch of banana for you!  That's just a solid 'No.'  Ghost peppers, peaches, ginger and rosemary on the other hand...absolute magic!  So for the second fermentation, we pipe our already fizzy and delicious original kombucha into our F2 (second fermentation tanks), and allow the fruits and herbs to kick in a second fermentation of the kombucha.  We then cold crash the tanks down to around 4 degrees and add a little forced carbonation at this stage.  In total, this second fermentation is approximately 3 to 4 days.  We are now ready to bottle!