Kombucha is sweetened prepared tea that has been fermented by a kombucha culture. In this way it is similar to Pu-erh (though not in flavor), in that it takes tea that is already processed and then acts on it with another organism. It was originally developed in the area on the Russian/Northeast China border formerly known as Manchuria, and most of its traditional drinkers are from Russia or the former Soviet Republics.
In the past few decades, however, there has been renewed interest in kombucha outside of its traditional circles. This has lead to a “homebrew” culture of kombucha in many places that is based off of green and oolong tea rather than the traditional black tea. Results are often mixed, because many of these homebrewers learned through trial and error rather than experienced instruction. This is also the source of many of the cases of kombucha poisoning that have been noted in the media. This new style of kombucha is often more tart than traditional kombucha, and is sometimes sold as a health tonic mixed with various spices. However, the best examples of the new style are (in my opinion) pure tea varieties.
One issue is that kombucha is much like beer, in that it tastes best fresh, and stored under certain conditions. So many bottled kombuchas don’t reach you until they are not at their best. There are a few producers making canned kombucha, and this seems to last much better, but I believe that they may be pasteurized, which would kill the active cultures. “Kombucha Wonder Drink” (run by one of the former co-founders of Stash Tea and Tazo Tea) out of Portland, Oregon in the United States makes a canned new-style kombucha that I think is good if fresh stuff is not available. If you are ever in Olympia, Washington, in the United States, there is another brand called “Magic Kombucha”, that is really impressive, but they have limited distribution, and only serve kombucha bottled, which means it has a limited shelf life.
