KeVita, for example, offers Dragonfruit Lemongrass, Blueberry Basil, French Oak Apple, and Lavender Melon.

PepsiCo purchased a seven-year-old kombucha startup, KeVita, in 2016, and Coca-Cola last year began testing a drink called Cidewinder, that Coke said was like kombucha but with less sugar.ДЄdventurous flavors also have driven kombucha sales. It still has all the natural benefit and all the natural acids, just none of the unwanted flavor notes.вЂќДЄnother huge factor has been the entry of some beverage giants into the category. WeвЂ™ve created a very low-acid-tasting kombucha, one that is plant- and flavor-forward. Meanwhile, Rowdy Mermaid, a kombucha outfit in Colorado, has вЂњa functional take based on plants, herbs, mushrooms, and roots,вЂќ says founder Jamba Dunn. вЂњWe know itвЂ™s often a sign of live kombucha, but we see that as a little off-putting.вЂќ вЂњOur product is still live, but we found that a lot of people didnвЂ™t like the blob,вЂќ Mayol says. The brandвЂ™s approach includes straining out the mother, leaving the kombucha with more of the mouthfeel of traditional teas and other mainstream beverages. It appeals to tea lovers and those whoвЂ™ve been turned off by kombucha in the past.вЂќ

вЂњWe donвЂ™t add any artificial flavors or additional juices. вЂњWe concentrate on tea-forward kombucha, says CEO Joe Mayol. вЂњThey tend to be a younger generation that does not like soda or sugary drinks and has a more adventurous palate that fits the flavor profile of traditional raw kombucha.вЂќДЄmong the newer brands is Camellia Grove, a regional kombucha made in Oregon. The core kombucha consumer is 25 to 45 years old, usually consumes a diet high in plant-based foods, and exercises routinely, Dave says. (See feature article on fermented foods on page 32.) The growing popularity of fermented foods in general also is helping buoy kombucha. But kombucha kept gaining on younger consumers who were proving more and more adventurous. Many other new, nutritious beverages appeared over the past 15 years, giving health-minded Americans lots of options when it comes to turning wasted beverage calories into health-boosting ones. Early adopters were drawn to its potential health benefits, which advocates say include the actions of antioxidants, the bacteria-killing advantages of acetic acid, and cutting the risk of heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, and even cancer. Kombucha is essentially a fermented tea drink whose nutritional efficacy comes from whatвЂ™s known as a SCOBY, short for вЂњsymbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast.вЂќ In Synergy and nearly all early versions of kombucha, this colony manifested in an unsightly blob referred to as the вЂњmother,вЂќ which floats in the drink. вЂњKombucha has increasingly become mainstream, but it remains a niche category-considerably smaller than most of the mainstream beverage categories,вЂќ says Gary Hemphill, Beverage MarketingвЂ™s managing director. And some analysts dispute that kombucha ever truly will become a widely popular beverage in the United States. Sales growth has slowed considerably over the last couple of years, according to Beverage Marketing Corp.

Playful flavor varieties, various treatments of the bacterial blob that floats in traditional kombucha, and even вЂњhardвЂќ interpretations that lean into kombuchaвЂ™s natural alcohol content are all contributing to the continued growth of a beverage that has helped spark a healthfulness revolution in what Americans drink. Since entrepreneur GT Dave essentially created the category in the United States with Synergy kombucha in 1995, itвЂ™s grown to a $1.3 billion market that has sucked in even giants such as PepsiCo and Coca-Cola.ДЄ couple of decades in, the kombucha category remains a font of bottom-up innovation. Kombucha was the better-for-you beverage that the industry didnвЂ™t see coming, a truly grassroots вЂњmakerвЂќ phenomenon that was turned into a trailblazing beverage option for the health conscious by a man who wanted to help his mother recover from breast cancer.

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