Ready to make your own kombucha at home but aren’t sure where to start? In this comprehensive kombucha starter kit guide, we’re going to review everything you need to know to begin home brewing your own kombucha, as well as all of the kombucha brewing supplies you’re going to need. Plus, you aren’t going to want to miss out top picks for the best kombucha starter kit of 2023 – especially our experts’ number one kit: the Kombucha Shop Kombucha Starter Kit.
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Kombucha is rapidly gaining popularity all around the country as the newest and trendiest health drink. But kombucha is nothing new: it’s been consumed by humans for more than two thousand years.
And the claims of health benefits are nothing new, either.
Not only is kombucha refreshing and great-tasting, it’s fans also report a wide variety of health benefits associated with the beverage, including more energy, increased metabolism, and fewer headaches.
But constantly shopping for kombucha in the store can get expensive. So instead, many people are using a kombucha starter kit to brew their own homemade kombucha for just a tiny fraction of the price that it costs in the stores.
Kombucha Starter Kit Top Picks for 2023
Brewing your own homemade kombucha is simply and easy if you’re prepared with the proper supplies. Here, we’re going to go through out top picks for the best kombucha starter kit of 2023. These kits come with everything you need to begin brewing, including the most important ingredients – the SCOBY and the initial starter tea batch.
The Kombucha Shop Kombucha Starter Kit
At the very top of our list is the popular The Kombucha Shop Kombucha Starter Kit. Complete with everything that you need to begin brewing right away, this kombucha starter kit from The Kombucha Shop comes will all 100% organic ingredients to ensure the highest quality kombucha possible.
Unlike with some lower-end kits, buying from The Kombucha Shop means that you’re assured to receive a SCOBY that’s healthy and guaranteed to grow. If you want to brew great kombucha the first time and every time after that, you positively can’t go wrong with The Kombucha Shop Kombucha Starter Kit.
Get Kombucha Organic Kombucha Starter Kit
Another great kombucha starter kit from a well-respected company with tens of thousands of satisfied customers, the Get Kombucha Organic Kombucha Starter Kit is an excellent option for anyone who’s just beginning to get involved with home brewing their own kombucha.
An upside of the Get Kombucha starter kit is that it comes with a larger supply of ingredients than many other commercial kits. While you’re able to find most of the consumable items pretty easily, being well stocked up for your first few batches is never a bad thing.
Get Kombucha Continuous Kombucha Home Brew Kit
Rounding out our top three picks for the best kombucha starter kit is another item from Get Kombucha, the Get Kombucha Continuous Kombucha Home Brew Kit. Not for the curious buyer who’s never really tried kombucha before, this high-end home brew kit comes complete with everything you need to keep a continuous supply of kombucha on hand.
One of their best sellers, Get Kombucha markets their Continuous Kombucha Home Brew Kit as being able to produce 8 gallons of kombucha every 28 days – that’s more than 125 individual bottles. Perfect for entire families or the very serious kombucha enthusiast, this is easily the highest quality kombucha starter kit on the market.
Karma Cultures Kombucha Tea Homebrew Starter Kit
Easily one of the more comprehensive kombucha starter kits on our list, the Karma Cultures Kombucha Tea Homebrew Starter Kit is another quality kit that can have you on the way to preparing your own homemade kombucha in no time.
If you’re looking for a product that will last, the Karma Cultures Homebrew Kit is a smart buy. With proper care and storage, your kit will last for years to come. All you’ll need to do is fill up on loose tea and sugar. The Karma Cultures Kit also comes with a convenient LCD thermometer to keep better track of your kombucha’s fermentation.
DB Mercantile Kombucha Brewing Starter Kit
Looking for a slightly different kombucha? You may want to check out the DB Mercantile Kombucha Brewing Starter Kit, complete with organic ginger and hibiscus to add to the unique flavor of your brew. This makes it easier to experiment with different additives in order to find the blend that tastes the best to you.
The DB Mercantile Kombucha Brewing Starter Kit comes complete with a healthy, living SCOBY submerged in a full cup of starter tea in order to help ensure a great brew from your very first attempt. Priced slightly lower than the top picks on our list, the kombucha starter kit from DB Mercantile is a solid choice for any new kombucha brewer.
Leona Kombucha Starter Kit
Searching for a simpler, reasonably priced kombucha kit to give as a gift to a friend or family member? The Leona Kombucha Starter Kit is a good choice as a present for someone who you feel would love the experience of brewing their own kombucha, but you aren’t quite ready to spend as much as some other, better ranking kits cost.
That said, there’s nothing wrong with the Leona Kombucha Starter Kit – it’s a great choice for anyone looking to brew kombucha at home. But if money isn’t a major issue, we’d probably recommend one of the comparable kits in the top two spots on our list.
Kombucha Brooklyn Home Brew Starter Kit
If ease and simplicity is what you’re after with your first batch of homebrewed kombucha, the Kombucha Brooklyn Home Brew Starter Kit might just be the right fit for you. Straight-forward and free of the extra ingredients found in some other kits, the Kombucha Brooklyn is good for anyone who wants to make and try homemade kombucha for the first time.
As one of the lowest priced kombucha starter kits on our list, the Kombucha Brooklyn Home Brew Starter kit is solid pick if you’re just looking to test the waters of home brewing, and aren’t sure if it’s really going to be for you.
Cultures for Health Kombucha Starter Kit
Excited to try brewing kombucha with your family? If you have children and want to get them involved in the process, the Cultures for Health Kombucha Starter Kit is a great way to do it. Value-priced with basically everything you need to get started brewing kombucha today, the Cultures for Health kit is a good project for the entire family to get involved in.
It’s worth noting that the Cultures for Health Kombucha Starter Kit does not come with the glass jar needed for fermentation, but it does come with a healthy SCOBY and the starter tea batch. When shopping for the jar to accompany this kit, aim for one with at least a one-gallon capacity.
The History of Kombucha
While Kombucha has just recently began gaining popularity in the United States, it is by no means a new drink. In fact, countries in the Far East have been drinking kombucha both for its taste and medicinal properties for more than two thousand years: its origins trace back to China in the 3rd century BC.
In the fourth century, the Japanese physician Kombu brought the drink back to his native Japan, hence the name that we call kombucha today.
By the 19th century, Kombucha had become a popular drink throughout Russia, and from there its reputation and demand for the beverage spread throughout the rest of Europe in the early 1900’s.
Kombucha Health Benefits
Sure, many people simply drink kombucha because they enjoy the taste. It’s a delicious and refreshing beverage. But for most, their attraction to kombucha begins with all of the buzz around its health benefits. Kombucha is a wonderful probiotic which contains compounds tied with a number of positive effects including:
- Improved Immune System
- Digestive Health
- Detoxification
- Headache Relief
- Increased Energy
- Cancer Prevention
- Glucose Stabilization
While kombucha cannot be classified as a medicine, plenty of enthusiastic supporters all around the globe swear by the beverage and all agree that it has helped them improve their wellbeing.
Make Your Own Kombucha: Is It Worth It?
If you’ve made it this far, you probably understand and agree with the benefits of consuming kombucha regularly. Maybe you’ve even tried it before, and perhaps you already drink commercially available kombucha on a regular basis. If so, then you definitely know how expensive it is.
Here at Respectable Reviews, we understand that going to the store and purchasing kombucha is not cheap: the average cost for a bottle can range from $4 to $5 or even more, depending on your location. Prices have definitely been on the rise over the past few years as kombucha has grown in popularity.
And although for many people, kombucha is an ideal alternative to their daily Starbucks, it simply doesn’t need to cost that much. Nearly anyone can make delicious, high-quality, healing kombucha at home with minimal effort for a small fraction of the retail price.
That’s because it’s cheap and easy to make your own kombucha. There is a small initial investment required in order to purchase your kombucha starter kit, but after that you can prepare your own homemade kombucha for just pennies on the dollar of what you’d otherwise be paying at your local health food store.
Kombucha Brewing Supplies: What’s Needed?
Kombucha really isn’t all that hard to prepare, and except for the SCOBY and starter tea (we’ll get to these in a minute), most of the items needed can be gathered by visiting just a few separate stores that would be located in just about any decently populated city. Most new brewers, however, choose to pick up a kombucha starter kit to simply the process.
Getting ready to prepare your own homemade kombucha? Here are a few of the most commonly found kombucha brewing supplies that you’ll need:
- One-Gallon Glass Jar
- Organic Tea, Black (and Optional Green)
- Pure Cane Sugar
- 100% Cotton Tea Bags
- 100% Cotton Jar Cover
- pH Testing Strips
Again, if you’d rather gather these items yourself instead of purchase a kombucha starter kit, most of these can be found locally in the majority of areas.
The problem, however, with putting together your own kombucha start kit is that you won’t have the two most important ingredients: the SCOBY and the starter tea batch.
SCOBY stands for symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast. I know what you’re thinking: when we’re talking about making a beverage to drink, SCOBY sounds a lot better than talking about bacterium and yeast cultures. But the fact is, it’s these helpful probiotics that give kombucha the healing properties that it’s praised for. When you purchase a kombucha starter kit, you’re going to get a living SCOBY that’s ready to be used in your future kombucha batches.
The other important ingredient that comes in a kombucha starter kit is the starter tea batch. This is basically anywhere between one-half to one cup of finished kombucha from a previous batch. More often than not, the SCOBY will come soaked in the starter tea batch, and that’s precisely how you’ll want to store it in-between future batches.
Best Kombucha Starter Kit 2023?
If you’re looking for the best kombucha starter kit, you can’t go wrong with these top picks for 2023:
- The Kombucha Shop Kombucha Starter Kit
- Get Kombucha Organic Kombucha Starter Kit
- Get Kombucha Continuous Kombucha Home Brew Kit
- Karma Cultures Kombucha Tea Homebrew Starter Kit
- DB Mercantile Kombucha Brewing Starter Kit
- Leona Kombucha Starter Kit
- Kombucha Brooklyn Home Brew Starter Kit
- Cultures for Health Kombucha Starter Kit