• Rob Bos@lemmy.ca
    55·
    7 months ago

    Kombucha has to be in the running for most marked up drink. Stupid cheap to make, even if kegging it. Same essential process as beer.

    • SuperIce@lemmy.worldEnglish
      10·
      7 months ago

      I think the alcohol removal process increases the price quite a bit. Still very marked up though.

        • SuperIce@lemmy.worldEnglish
          5·
          7 months ago

          But then you have to restrict your userbase to over 21s and can’t sell it in many supermarkets. Without alcohol it can be sold as a soft drink.

            • SuperIce@lemmy.worldEnglish
              9·
              7 months ago

              That’s accurate, but anything above 0.5% is considered alcoholic in the US. There have been some small pushes to get the limit increased to 1.25%, which would make the usual levels of alcohol in normal kombucha legal, but I don’t think that’ll actually ever happen.

              • Rob Bos@lemmy.ca
                4·
                7 months ago

                0.5% in the States? Yuck. Paranoid. Anyway not too expensive. Filtering out the yeast. Bubbling oxygen through the mix. Increased nucleation might do it too.

                Regardless: huge markup.

      • Rob Bos@lemmy.ca
        8·
        7 months ago

        At least here it can have 1.1% ABV without triggering regulations. Most of the sugars get metabolized by yeast into alcohol, then bacteria into vinegars. The better it’s oxygenated, the more vinegars are made. You don’t remove the alcohol, you convert it.

        So 40g of sugar in a litre would become about 20g of alcohol, most of which becomes vinegar. The exact amount depends on time, temp, oxygen.

  • boogetyboo
    161·
    7 months ago

    I tried Kombucha for the first time the other day.

    I don’t get it.

    It wasn’t terrible but I’d rather have a beer or a juice. Not whatever that was.

    • Donkter@lemmy.world
      131·
      7 months ago

      I enjoy it. Kombucha is a very rare savory cold drink. I find it tasty so it’s a good choice for variety, which I crave.

      • boogetyboo
        1·
        7 months ago

        I guess it’s like I can’t find a use case for it. Maybe I’ll try it again but it didn’t grab me the first time. I’m a savoury drink fan - bloody Mary’s and super dirty dry martinis are my favourite.

        Maybe it was the carbonation I didn’t like. Things to ponder…