Q: When I buy kombucha, I notice that it's nice and fizzy about half the time, and the other half, totally flat. Does anyone have tips on picking the fizzy bottles? Is this even possible? At about $4 a bottle, I'm tired of falling flat in the kombucha department. Thanks!
Sent by Gretchen
Editor: I have also experienced this phenomenon and don't have a good solution. However, if you buy raw kombucha and leave it at room temperature for a day or so, the kombucha will start to ferment again and should create more carbonation in the bottle. Just don't leave the bottles unrefrigerated for too long or they may eventually shatter!
Readers, any other ideas for guaranteeing fizzy kombucha?
Related: How to Make Kombucha Tea at Home
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Not sure if this will help, but I have better luck when I reach allllllll the way to the back and pull out the most recently stocked bottles. I still get the odd flat one every now and then but it does better my odds.
I got my recipe down and prefer my own grapefruit/ginger or pineapple/ginger to anything i get in the store. I put my bottles in the water heater closet b/c of the constant warm temp in there. Three days and I have to refrigerate before opening so i don't get foam all over my floor.
Thanks for posting my question! I used to brew my own kombucha, but I stopped keeping up with it, and now buy a bottle or two on Whole Foods trips. My own was never quite as fizzy as the brand ones, either! I really appreciate the suggestions.
Shake them?
Remember that whole debacle when a certain celebrity blamed her alcohol monitor going off, on kombucha? Because there is a tiny amount of alcohol in kombucha from the fermentation, I heard they had to set an earlier expiration date on the product so the levels didn't get too high, hence less fizz-
Being a poor student, I too was always bummed when I got a flat kombucha after spending $4 on a favorite treat. I actually wrote an email to GT's and asked them about it. They were kind and prompt in their response and even sent me a voucher for a free bottle. They said that the older the bottle is the higher the chance is that it will be fizzier. Because it is naturally fizzy due to fermentation, the older the bottle the more chance the fizz has to populate the bottle. Look for the closest "Best By" date that you can find. This is counterintuitive to how you normally would buy a food product, but the closer the date, the older the bottle!