Kombucha as ethical, sustainable & halo-worthy as it is delicious
Go on then…what on earth is this stuff?
Kombucha isn’t a new trend, in fact it’s been around longer than you’d imagine. Coming all the way from China over 2,000 years ago, kombucha has come a long way, especially in recent years – gaining more popularity as more people discover its amazing health benefits. Kombucha is highly praised for its probiotics that come from the fermentation process; similar to the likes of Sourdough, Sauerkraut, Kimchi, Miso, and Tempeh. But we still get a lot of questions about our so-called ‘miracle drink’. Like what is kombucha? What is kombucha made of? What does kombucha taste like? Hopefully we can answer them all here.
Kombucha is not high in sugar, it’s not alcoholic (well it contains trace amounts, but we’ll get into that later) and it’s not your average soft drink. So we know what it’s not, but…
What exactly is it? Kombucha is the amazing fermented soft drink that we like to craft brew the good old fashioned way – we stick to the traditional Eastern recipe, fermenting our organic antioxidant-rich green tea, raw cane sugar and live bacteria and yeast cultures over a number of weeks, which creates our delicious Kombucha, full of the good stuff!
You might have heard that this fermentation process creates a small amount of alcohol, and you’ve heard right. It creates a trace amount, but it’s such a low volume you won’t be getting drunk any time soon.
This is another one that we get asked – a lot. So let’s try to explain… Equinox Organic Kombucha is made from Chun Mee Green Tea, raw cane sugar and a live culture called a ‘SCOBY’ or a Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast – if you’re a fan of science stuff.
We always use certified organic ingredients and keep our Kombucha raw and unpasteurised – so that we keep in all of the gut friendly bacteria. We never use anything artificial because we don’t like our drinks to contain any nasties!
If you’re wondering what does kombucha do, you’ll be happy to hear that Kombucha has a well-deserved reputation for working wonders on the mind and body – probably why it’s also known as the ‘Tea of Immortality’. And while we can’t guarantee immortality, we can tell you it’ll leave you feeling wonderfully revitalised, think of it as a healthy little pick-me-up.
Kombucha is perfect if you want to add probiotics to your diet. It can help to boost your digestive health, immunity and your nutrient absorption by increasing the biodiversity in your microbiome. The greater your gut biodiversity, the better your health, or you could say the more good stuff you put into your body the more you get out of life. Healthy body, healthy mind, healthy booch.
There are still loads of folks that haven’t tried kombucha that always ask ‘What does kombucha taste like?’ And we always say the best way to find out is to try it, because it’s pretty tricky to describe! But we’ll give it a go – Equinox Kombucha has a very distinctive taste – fizzy, fragrant, fruity and unbelievably delicious, it’s very different from other soft drinks and it’s amazing as a mixer, it’s the ultimate taste experience!
Go on, try it – we dare you! Shop our range of delicious flavours here.
We always want to make our drinks with authenticity; brewed and fermented in a traditional method using high quality ingredients with the least impact on our community and environment. That’s why we only use organic ingredients to make our affordable, healthy, sustainable soft drink.
It’s time to look after yourself, the planet, and go organic
The UK government has reported that organic farming is better for wildlife, causes lower pollution from sprays, produces less carbon dioxide and reduces the risks of global warming.
If you want to make healthy changes in your lifestyle whilst helping the environment, we would recommend choosing organic products.
The Soil Association is a charity based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1946, it has over 27,000 members today. Its activities include campaign work on issues including opposition to intensive farming, support for local purchasing and public education on nutrition; as well the certification of organic food.
If you see the Organic Soil Association label on the side of the product you can be sure its from a trusted source and meets rigorous organic standards.
Our mission is to make affordable, organic, healthy, sustainable soft drinks that are good for you and the planet.
We create organic, living drinks that add life and vitalise everyone that drinks them.
We are currently going through the process of B Corp accreditation. This will take some time but we know it will be worth it by aligning our mission, culture and values.
Certified B Corporations are businesses that meet the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability to balance profit and purpose. B Corps are accelerating a global culture shift to redefine success in business and build a more inclusive and sustainable economy.
Society’s most challenging problems cannot be solved by government and nonprofits alone. The B Corp community works toward reduced inequality, lower levels of poverty, a healthier environment, stronger communities, and the creation of more high quality jobs with dignity and purpose. By harnessing the power of business, B Corps use profits and growth as a means to a greater end: positive impact for their employees, communities, and the environment.
B Corps form a community of leaders and drive a global movement of people using business as a force for good. The values and aspirations of the B Corp community are embedded in the B Corp Declaration of Interdependence.
Equinox Kombucha was founded in the Calder Valley, West Yorkshire and this is where we are going to stay.
80% of our employees live in the area local to our brewery. Our community there is vital to our wellbeing.
Our global community helps us to evolve our products and services based on the highest need and biggest opportunity to make a real and lasting difference.
It important to us that as many people as possible get to enjoy a healthy, living, revitalising soft drink. That’s why we are committed to produce our drinks at reasonable price.
Everything we do has a social and environmental opportunity. We are developing social programmes of work that effect and help our local and global community. By giving back and helping the communities we buy our ingredients from, or where we have our factories, we can help them to prosper in the future. We will keep you posted on these developments. Our Equinox culture is important to us, we respect and help each other to become better and stronger.
We are still learning, we don’t always get it right the first time. But as we grow we are evolving, innovating and perfecting our company, process and products.
Great Taste – Our Kombucha is created by our passionate belief that the best quality organic, ethically sourced ingredients, create new and healthy experiences, combined with our unique craft brewing process, results in a delicious and refreshing drink. Our suppliers form the arteries of our Equinox ecosystem, we work closely with them to ensure that ethical farming, sourcing and supply chains feed and sustain our business, our products and our customers. (Organic ingredients and ethical Supply Chain)
Crafted with love – Our manufacturing processes are designed to be as clean and sustainable as possible. Our working culture encourages experimentation, innovation and collaborative learning. We continually develop our ‘craft’ of brewing living, bacterially rich, healthy Kombucha with an eye to reducing our environmental impacts and expanding our capacity in life affirming ways. We do everything we can minimise harm and maximise health.
(Clean manufacturing and positive environmental impact)
Create harmony and give respect – We make ‘living’ Kombucha that is thriving with healthy bacterial cultures. For us, the culture of our business needs to be equally healthy, in order to sustain and nurture our product and our people.
Harmony for us is an ongoing process of listening, understanding and rebalancing the way we create or market out product. As an aspiring B Corp, we believe in taking into account the needs of all our stakeholders when making important decisions governing the current and future health of our business and our communities.
(People and culture)
Giving back is right thing to do, for us and the planet – As a integral part of a wider living system in the Calderdale Valley, we believe that it’s our responsibility and honour to play our role in its ongoing regeneration and evolution. We are a part of a living, dynamic community and connect organisations, projects and resources wherever possible. We give locally because it makes a difference and because it connects us to each other, our communities, our customers and our planet.
(Community engagement and investment)
Positively disrupt and challenge – We are living in times of social and environmental regeneration. We are proud to be a British company that make a affordable, healthy soft drink for all to enjoy, sustainability is at our core. As a company producing a healthy, living product, its vitally important to provide people with valuable, credible information from which they can make new and healthier choices. We combine social and physical science to challenge the existing status quo. We strive to positively disrupt, we educate and we experiment to create positive change. (Health education and business impact models)