House Kombucha - Yelp Field Trip

As the sun was saying cheerio to the skies in Oakland, California.  A gaggle of eager Yelpers gathered outside a small factory on a dead end street in the industrial quarter of the city.

The team were so welcoming!  They showed us around and handed out samples of their 7 flavours.  Their passion for the ‘bucha was as clear as their sterilised bottles.
They showed us the kombucha mold, or scoby/mother/bucha baby as it is known.  Some of the more seasoned ones where huge…and it has to be said a bit ugly!

Rana and the Brew master

Rana Chang, upon graduating in Law and deciding it was a career not for her.  She was hooked on Kombucha and times where hard.  The industrious Rana started tinkering with making the beverage she had memories of her mother making. The stores had rows of Kombucha in the chiller, but the high cost made it an expensive tipple. Rana started out with no ideas for big business but to satisfy her need for the fizzy drink.  But news of her Kombucha making grew as steadily as her ‘bucha babies’ and House Kombucha was born. She started out at a farmers market. Now HK has it’s own brewing factory and a team of 5. Harking back to a bygone age, House Kombucha re-use all of their bottles and give a monetary incentive on every single empty bottle returned to the store. House Kombucha is unique as it is the lowest in calories on the market (10 calories per 8oz), they add no additional sugar or flavours to their finished brews, it’s probiotic and you can get it ‘to go’, on tap or delivered to you in your CSA Box.

I learned so much in such a short time.  What a fun trip!  I got back on my bicycle to peddle to the Bart, my carriage back to San Francisco, with a zippy buzz and a heart full of Kombucha love.

Thank you Yelp.  Thank you Rana, Ruggy, Aaron, and Walt the BrewMaster.