A visit with Kombucha Bob

Yesterday my son and I went to Plain City, OH to visit with Kombucha Bob to witness how he has been making kombucha for decades. He stated that he was the first business in the state of Ohio to be licensed to make kombucha, so he knows that he is doing.

The facility was small but I was impressed with the system and passion he displayed in making his product. He offers eight different flavors of which we got to sample two of them – Original and Mango. They really fizzed when poured into glasses, like root beer does, but Bob said he doesn’t use CO2 for the fizz like soda pop – it is a natural by-product of the fermentation process. What I liked about this fizz is that it didn’t give me the burps like fizzy pop does. It was very smooth and clean going down – almost like a champaigne. No extra sweetness or vinegar flavor here – just real kombucha.

Kombucha is a living health drink made by fermenting tea and sugar with the Kombucha Culture. The culture looks like a beige or white rubbery pancake. It is often called scoby which stands for symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeasts. The culture is placed in sweetened black or green tea and turns the bowl full of sweet tea into a bowl full of vitamins, minerals, enzymes, and health-giving organic acids. According to the sheet he gave me, “It (kombucha) has certainly been shown to have similar antibiotic, antiviral, and antifungal properties (as fermented milk products) in lab tests. Many of the benefits reported include improvements in energy levels, metabolic disorders, allergies, cancer, digestive problems, candidiasis, hypertension, HIV, chronic fatique and arthritis. It also used exterally for skin problems as well as hair wash among other things.”

Although Bob admitted to being in his 70s, he was the picture of health and very active. With the help of his one employee Dustin, they make and deliver cases of product throughout the Columbus and Dayton region. We are excited to add Kombucha Bob to our list of vendors, and God willing, we can be as spry and active as Bob as we get into our 70s and beyond!