Meet Our Members – Nomade Junerie (Canada)

Maxime Deschesnes, Mélanie Pilote, Éloi Ferland, Nomade Junerie, Saint-Thuribe Quebec, Canada Q: When did you first discover kombucha? I discovered kombucha with the popular brand RISE at college when I was 18 years old. Since then, I’ve never stopped drinking fermented tea. My partner Eloi has brewed his own for many years. Q: Why did […]

Wednesday, 9th October 2019

Maxime Deschesnes, Mélanie Pilote, Éloi Ferland, Nomade Junerie, Saint-Thuribe Quebec, Canada

Q: When did you first discover kombucha?

I discovered kombucha with the popular brand RISE at college when I was 18 years old. Since then, I’ve never stopped drinking fermented tea. My partner Eloi has brewed his own for many years.

Q: Why did you start your own kombucha company?

We started Nomade Junerie in January 2018, but Eloi has been a JUN home brewer since 2016. So, when we decided to launch our start-up, we had our recipes and they were already liked by our local buddies.

Q: What is your favorite flavor of kombucha?

Quetzal Kombucha and Lao Kombucha, both from Quebec, are probably our favorite brands. They are very kind, so that helps! 😉

Q: What is your former/current other life or career?

I’m a boxer instructor and also a re-creative boxer. Eloi loves climbing, exploring, travelling, and discovering the world, and his « terroirs » are definitely our common passion.

Q: What is a saying that you live by?

PURA VIDA

Meet Our Members – Diosa Organics (Mexico)

Victoria Chaires and Brett Acker, Diosa Organics, Solidaridad, Quintana Roo, Mexico Q: When did you first discover kombucha? I first discovered Kombucha while working at an organic restaurant in Venice Beach in 2009. It was when GT’s started on tap and we featured GT’s ginger and another local kombucha with lavender. I was instantly hooked […]

Wednesday, 2nd October 2019

Victoria Chaires and Brett Acker, Diosa Organics, Solidaridad, Quintana Roo, Mexico

Q: When did you first discover kombucha?

I first discovered Kombucha while working at an organic restaurant in Venice Beach in 2009. It was when GT’s started on tap and we featured GT’s ginger and another local kombucha with lavender. I was instantly hooked and found a great alternative to drinking alcohol. It helped jump start a path to a greater healthier lifestyle that changed my life and inspired our business.

Q: Why did you start your own kombucha company?

Diosa Organics Superfoods was born out of necessity for healthy lifestyle options when I moved to Playa del Carmen, Mexico. There were little to no options available along the lines of superfoods and functional beverages, specifically Kombucha. Brewing Kombucha was not in the business plan, but after a scoby babysitting gig turned into an adoption, I was hooked. I realized then that there was an unspoken responsibility to share this medicine of antiquity with the community.

Q: What is your favorite flavor of kombucha?

Aside from Diosa Organics, I enjoy Bootleg Kombucha from Buffalo. Blueberry Lavender and Hurricane are yummy.

Q: What is your former/current other life or career?

I have been in the craft restaurant/bar industry for 25 years. My focus now is continuing to co-create with my wife and Diosa Organics co-founder Victoria Chaires. Diosa Organics is a platform to share sustainable living ideas, products and services with our community and the world. We also use our platform to share conscious business practices, ideas and solutions with associates, vendors and providers.

Q: What is a saying that you live by?

It’s not really a saying, but a practice, and that is consciously Lead With Your Heart in every moment. I believe if we viewed, acted and responded to life through our Heart lens, our world would continue to be a better place.

Meet Our Members – Hex Ferments (MD)

Meaghan & Shane Carpenter, Hex Ferments, Baltimore, MD, USA Q: When did you first discover kombucha? While studying art in Ireland, a friend had some brewing on his counter in Galway and Meaghan was intrigued by the “blob” and the smell, but mainly sold on the hangover cure that he purported. Upon returning home she […]

Thursday, 26th September 2019

Meaghan & Shane Carpenter, Hex Ferments, Baltimore, MD, USA

Q: When did you first discover kombucha?

While studying art in Ireland, a friend had some brewing on his counter in Galway and Meaghan was intrigued by the “blob” and the smell, but mainly sold on the hangover cure that he purported. Upon returning home she immediately put up a want ad for a kombucha mother on the local food co-ops community board and a lovely woman in her 80s brought one to her along with very simple care and instructions. That was about 20 years ago and she has been hooked since!

Q: Why did you start your own kombucha company?

Meaghan started brewing out of her apartment and supplying her friends and neighbors in the early 2000s. Shane WWOOF’d through Europe, cavorting with people who had Kombucha SCOBYs in their kitchens, and felt an attraction to the community of both microbes and people. In 2008 we started experimenting with fresh ingredients that we or our farmer friends grew for our kombucha and our vegetable ferments. After much prodding from our community we decided to start HEX Ferments, based off our desire to put more nourishing foods in the world and a performance art piece that we collaborated on called HEXEN. In 2013 we became an official business.

Q: What is your favorite flavor of kombucha?

Cultured in Berkeley California makes the best kombucha hands down – their fennel and celery flavors rock our microbial world (along with everything else they make). Also, this past spring we attended our first KBI Conference and tried Kombucha Towns Ginger…AMAZING!

Q: What is your former/current other life or career?

Meaghan is an artist, Painter and Performance Art and former Art Professor. Shane is a Photographer and Drummer and perpetual seeker.

Q: What is a saying that you live by?

Go With Your Gut! And … You are what you eat!

Meet Our Members – KC Kombucha (CA)

Courtney Edwards and Kevin O’Toole, KC Kombucha, Sacramento, CA, USA Q: When did you first discover kombucha? We first discovered kombucha while living in Kansas City in 2015. Q: Why did you start your own kombucha company? As our consumption of kombucha increased, we decided to make an attempt at making our own. This lead […]

Thursday, 19th September 2019

Courtney Edwards and Kevin O’Toole, KC Kombucha, Sacramento, CA, USA

Q: When did you first discover kombucha?

We first discovered kombucha while living in Kansas City in 2015.

Q: Why did you start your own kombucha company?

As our consumption of kombucha increased, we decided to make an attempt at making our own. This lead to mass quantities being made at our house. We shared our product with friends and one of them asked us to brew to serve at his new brewery as a non-alcoholic option. We quickly outgrew that space, moved into a commercial kitchen and now we are weeks away from opening Sacramento’s first kombucha taproom.

Q: What is your favorite flavor of kombucha?

GT’s Trilogy was our go to flavor before we started brewing our own.

Q: What is your former/current other life or career?

Prior to starting the company Courtney was a practicing CPA. Kevin is currently a Medevac Flight Nurse.

Q: What is a saying that you live by?

“Don’t sweat the small stuff”

Meet Our Members – New Motion Beverages (CA)

Kyle Pool and Andy Sist, New Motion Beverages, Los Angeles, CA, USA Q: When did you first discover kombucha? We first discovered kombucha in 2014. Q: Why did you start your own kombucha company? We conceived New Motion to help solve one of life’s great paradoxes, which puts “doing what is good for you” against […]

Thursday, 12th September 2019

Kyle Pool and Andy Sist, New Motion Beverages, Los Angeles, CA, USA

Q: When did you first discover kombucha?

We first discovered kombucha in 2014.

Q: Why did you start your own kombucha company?

We conceived New Motion to help solve one of life’s great paradoxes, which puts “doing what is good for you” against “doing what you want.” But we believe in having it all – so our Kombucha is brewed with recipes inspired by craft cocktails and a process informed by craft beer.

Q: What is your favorite flavor of kombucha?

Sage Bistro Orange Creamsickle.

Q: What is your former/current other life or career?

Civil Engineer and Business Manager.

Q: What is a saying that you live by?

Work Hard, Play Harder, Love Always.

Meet Our Members – DrinKraft (MO)

Pete Hinshaw, DrinKraft, Columbia, MO, USA Q: When did you first discover kombucha? It’s all her fault. The wife and I were on the road and she had a sour stomach. She said she’d heard kombucha might be the ticket. We stopped and got her one and I had a couple of sips. A couple […]

Thursday, 5th September 2019

Pete Hinshaw, DrinKraft, Columbia, MO, USA

Q: When did you first discover kombucha?

It’s all her fault. The wife and I were on the road and she had a sour stomach. She said she’d heard kombucha might be the ticket. We stopped and got her one and I had a couple of sips. A couple of years later she took a class on back yard foraging. One night the teacher handed out SCOBYs. We let it to ferment for a week. She didn’t like the kombucha and I did. I’ve been fermenting kombucha ever since.

Q: Why did you start your own kombucha company?

I ask myself the same question from time to time. I was recently retired. I thought Columbia should have a kombucha brewery. Bob’s your uncle.

Q: What is your favorite flavor of kombucha?

St.Louis is a couple of hours east from here. Chef William Pauley specializes in fermentation and kombucha. He usually has a chaga kombucha on the menu.

Q: What is your former/current other life or career?

I did software development and systems work on Unix systems. I spent several years with Sprint and then I worked on the State of Tennessee’s Medicaid system. C programming, shell scripting, oracle database. A lot of the work was like solving puzzles and that was fun.

Q: What is a saying that you live by?

Is this an open book quiz? It’s hard to live up to anything all the time. The most inspiring professor I had, Mack Jones, taught Shakespeare. Mack always announced in the first class that everyone enrolled would get an A. It is easy to find a quote from Shakespeare that fits almost anything life can throw at a person. Here you go: “This above all: to thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man.”

B Corp Certification Process Webinar

B Corp Certification Process Webinar Presented By Danny Metcalf – Director of Business Operations, Brew Dr. Kombucha Join KBI & Danny Metcalf on Sept 18th @ 1pm PST for a webinar to discuss the process of B Corp certification. Brew Dr Kombucha embarked on the B Corp journey over three years ago to cement the core […]

Tuesday, 3rd September 2019

B Corp Certification Process Webinar

Presented By Danny Metcalf – Director of Business Operations, Brew Dr. Kombucha

Join KBI & Danny Metcalf on Sept 18th @ 1pm PST for a webinar to discuss the process of B Corp certification. Brew Dr Kombucha embarked on the B Corp journey over three years ago to cement the core environmental/culture beliefs of Founder & CEO Matt Thomas.

Danny spearheaded the assessment process and implementation of policies to align with B Corp, leading to a successful certification in the fall of 2018. Since certification, Brew Doctor Kombucha has been actively working to ingrain B Corp into their day-to-day culture, operations, and belief edifice.

Does your brand aspire to cultivating change from within the corporate structure? Do these values align with your own? Then, we invite you to listen in and ask questions. FREE for KBI Members; $40 for non-members.

What is a Certified B Corporation?

“Certified B Corporations are businesses that meet the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability to balance profit and purpose. B Corps are accelerating a global culture shift to redefine success in business and build a more inclusive and sustainable economy.

Society’s most challenging problems cannot be solved by government and nonprofits alone. The B Corp community works toward reduced inequality, lower levels of poverty, a healthier environment, stronger communities, and the creation of more high quality jobs with dignity and purpose. By harnessing the power of business, B Corps use profits and growth as a means to a greater end: positive impact for their employees, communities, and the environment.

B Corps form a community of leaders and drive a global movement of people using business as a force for good. The values and aspirations of the B Corp community are embedded in the B Corp Declaration of Interdependence.”

About B Corps. Retrieved from https://bcorporation.net/about-b-corps

Details

DATE: Sept 18th, 2019

TIME: 1-2pm PST; 30 min presentation & 15 min Q&A

COST: Free for KBI members, $40 for non-members

REGISTRATION LINK

Have questions? Please send in advance to admin@kombuchabrewers.org

Not a KBI Member, JOIN TODAY

Meet Our Members – Daily Organics (New Zealand)

Delwyn Ward and Brad Gwynne, Daily Organics, Auckland, New Zealand Q: When did you first discover kombucha? In 2008 while travelling in America with my children Q: Why did you start your own kombucha company? Because I love making things by hand Q: What is your favorite flavor of kombucha? Green Tea, Hibiscus, Lemongrass by […]

Wednesday, 28th August 2019

Delwyn Ward and Brad Gwynne, Daily Organics, Auckland, New Zealand

Q: When did you first discover kombucha?

In 2008 while travelling in America with my children

Q: Why did you start your own kombucha company?

Because I love making things by hand

Q: What is your favorite flavor of kombucha?

Green Tea, Hibiscus, Lemongrass by Good Brew Kombucha in Melbourne, Australia

Q: What is your former/current other life or career?

Art Historian

Q: What is a saying that you live by?

Never say never

Meet Our Members – Serendipity (MEX)

Mayte Priesca, Serendipity, Puebla, Mexico Q: When did you first discover kombucha? Back in 2017, I was looking for a different approach to improve my health. So a friend shared with me a piece of scoby and showed me how to make my own Kombucha. It started at my house, for me and my […]

Friday, 16th August 2019

Mayte Priesca, Serendipity, Puebla, Mexico

Q: When did you first discover kombucha?

Back in 2017, I was looking for a different approach to improve my health. So a friend shared with me a piece of scoby and showed me how to make my own Kombucha. It started at my house, for me and my family. My boys (6 and 8 years old) loved it, so it became a natural part of our day, to drink Kombucha.

Q: Why did you start your own kombucha company?

People kept asking me what I was doing, because I was looking better, more energetic and overall people were noticing a big change in me. So I started sharing my Kombucha and telling all my friends all the benefits, and I wanted everyone to try it. I wanted to share this; it if was helping me so much, I wanted to share it with the world.

Q: What is your favorite flavor of kombucha?

Mango by GT’S

Q: What is your former/current other life or career?

I am a textile designer. It helped a lot at the beginning, since I designed all the labels, mark, names, etc… Now I am mainly focused on my Kombucha company, and I also have other organic products as well.

Q: What is a saying that you live by?

Healthy Mind – Healthy Body. Healthy body – Healthy Mind

Meet Our Members – Compassion Kombucha (OR)

Kristin and Casey Bergh, Compassion Kombucha, Bend, OR, USA Q: When did you first discover kombucha? When Kristin was battling leaky gut and autoimmune disease in 2012. Discovered the power of fermented foods in helping support gut health and healing. Q: Why did you start your own kombucha company? Before we founded Compassion Kombucha, we […]

Tuesday, 30th July 2019

Kristin and Casey Bergh, Compassion Kombucha, Bend, OR, USA

Q: When did you first discover kombucha?

When Kristin was battling leaky gut and autoimmune disease in 2012. Discovered the power of fermented foods in helping support gut health and healing.

Q: Why did you start your own kombucha company?

Before we founded Compassion Kombucha, we had the privilege to study and work in rural communities around the world, where we met families struggling with basic needs. We were humbled. And we were overwhelmed. We knew couldn’t help everyone, but what if we could help someone?

Then, when we began brewing our own kombucha-first for our own family, then for friends, and then for loyal customers all over town-we saw the ripple effect of a good idea. And we knew we had to start right here, with families.

We are using a passion (Kombucha) to share compassion within our community and hope to inspire others to do the same!

Q: What is your favorite flavor of kombucha?

GT’s Trilogy or Superberry

Q: What is your former/current other life or career?

Casey is still a traffic engineer at Oregon State University – Cascades Campus by day. Kristin is a former public high school science/health teacher before staying home with their 3 young children.

Q: What is a saying that you live by?

“Do for one what you wish you could do for everyone” – Andy Stanley