For Heather Blair, kombucha started as a way of earning money on the side of her university degree, but quickly turned into a passion which now suffers due to mass producers.
The entrepreneur first heard about kombucha when she was 15, after reading an article about the fermented teas that lifestyle brand Urban Outfitters produced.
After googling the product, Heather thought she would never make it, but when coming across it again at 24, she felt it was something she might try and started her business in July 2019.
Speaking with Heather, she commented: “I googled it and thought I’m not going to make that. And then I found it years later at Pillars and got into it that way.”
“When I started making it there wasn’t many companies like me on the market. So, I thought there is a gap for this and I could do it. So that’s how it was born, and it’s gone a bit crazy since.”
Heather initially used the company to fund her nursing degree, but over time the business grew to a size that has resulted in Heather taking a year out of studying nursing to focus on kombucha.
What is kombucha?
Kombucha can be described as a fermented tea which is created by using a live culture and symbiotic bacteria called a Scoby.
When the Scoby is fed large amounts of sugar, the yeast will convert this sugar into ethanol, and that bacteria will then convert into more bacteria the longer it is left.
For Heather, the kombucha making process can take up to three weeks with the fermentation process happening in tanks for one week, before being placed into bottles and left to rest for a further two weeks.
Once placed into the bottle, the bacteria continues to work and convert the residual sugar into CO2, with the trapped gas making the liquid effervescent.
“It’s ready when it goes into the bottle, but if you want it to be perfect you sit it in the bottle for two weeks and it becomes fizzy, sharp and turns into what it should be. If you don’t, it will be flat.” explains Heather.
‘My kombucha is real kombucha’
For Heather, kombucha is a sustainable and environmentally friendly process which is made to benefit the body with good bacteria and acids.
She has found that mass produced kombucha often doesn’t have these benefits due to the lack of fermentation process, and bacteria which is not an alive culture.
She explained: “My kombucha is real kombucha. It’s not made with any dead base acids, and it’s a different brewing method.
“I don’t feel mass produced kombucha should be marketed in the same way if it doesn’t have the good bacteria and acids within it.”
Kombucha is known to help with a range of bodily functions including digestion and general gut health.
Although Heather doesn’t promote her kombucha in this way, many of her customers have told her about the range of benefits they have experienced including better output, less arthritic pain, and even helping with anxiety.
Flavour and gentle fizz
Heathers kombucha is made with a base of asan and gunpowder green tea, and then flavoured using juices or low sugar syrups she makes herself.
Flavours she currently sells includes spiced apple, ginger, rosemary, yuzu, and an orange one which is coming soon.
Heather highlights the lack of flavour from mass products: “Ours taste better, the other ones you buy they just taste like fizzy water or fizzy vinegar. There’s no balance of the sweet and sour with that gentle fizz.”
Heather’s mission is to try and encourage more people to buy local and small batch kombucha with benefits in both health and flavour for her consumers.
Bad gal boocha kombucha can be purchased from their website and is available for delivery.
