Summertime Kombucha Lineup

Sunshine Summertime

Summer is here! The flowers are in full bloom. The rain is gone, and I can see clearly now! Jimmy Cliff lyrics aside, the Spring has passed and now we’ve entered the later part of Summer. Spring was a busy season for us at Bucha Bros, but that’s an understatement. It was our first season at the Brimfield Farmers’ Market as well as a few other pop-up events such as the Brimfield Brewfest and Brimfield Annual Wine Festival, and our kombucha products have proven to be quite popular with the locals.

At the start of Summer, we’ve joined the West Brookfield Farmers’ Market and after some delay, the Sturbridge Farmers’ Market. On July 20th, we sold out of kombucha for the first time! While we thought that perhaps we didn’t adequately prepare enough bottles for the event, the fact that we sold out just meant that our product was valuable and worth selling. The incredibly positive reception and kindness of our customers has made these events worthwhile and such a joy to be a part of.

So what is Bucha Bros doing differently this time around in the middle of Summer? Making even more kombucha of course! And what better way to beat the heat this summer than with some ice cold kombucha. Let’s get right into our Summertime kombucha lineup. We present to you: Strawberry Rhubarb, Hibiscus Grape, and Blackberry Lavender. How do we add these flavors to our booch? Check out the process in our guide to second fermentation (F2) here! 

Summertime Kombucha Lineup: Strawberry Rhubarb 

One of the easiest decisions we’ve had to make in choosing a flavorful and memorable Summer kombucha flavor was strawberry rhubarb. The combination of sweet strawberries and tart rhubarb makes for an epic summertime fruit fusion. Like a “Fruit Rollu-” – err, maybe a “Fruit by the Foo-” – alright maybe we can’t say those names without copyright infringement, but it’s that exact fruity taste we get with every sip of this booch.

We brew this flavor using organic strawberry powder (freeze-dried and grinded to a powder) and locally sourced rhubarb from our friends at Hunt Road Berry Farms. I personally love making strawberry rhubarb crisps and tarts in the summertime, and we’re glad this flavor can be replicated so well in kombucha. For the bottle label, we decided to go with a dark pink color. We find this color fitting since both strawberries and rhubarb can have bits of pink color to them.

Strawberry Rhubarb honestly has to be my favorite kombucha flavor of all time, and that’s a bold claim, I know! I can’t get enough fruitiness; even Eddie likes it, and he prefers spicy and bitter stuff. We’re certain, without a doubt, you’ll fall in love with this Summer flavor as much as we have. 

Summertime Kombucha Lineup: Hibiscus Grape

One of the most staple fruits of Summer we can think of is grapes. There are many food manufacturer brands, with varying fruit combinations like apple-grape or cran-grape juice, flavored candy and jams. For this Summertime kombucha lineup, we knew we had to choose grape, and not just any grape, but the specific variety of red concord grape. Sweet and fruity, concord grapes work really well as both a juice and jam. And what better way to bring about a grape kombucha than with a hibiscus twist! The sweet tartness of hibiscus tea blends so well with the flavor of grape, we knew it was love at first sip.

We brew this flavor using organic concord grape juice combined with organic hibiscus. I (Brewmaster Ryan) used to have concord grape vines at my home in Wales; delicious to eat right off the vine, they made for some terrific grape jam and even the French dessert grape galeite pie! For the color, we decided to choose a dark reddish that’s similar to the color of hibiscus, as it comes in darker shades of red.

Hibiscus Grape is a fun kombucha flavor to have in the Summertime. It’s an easy flavor to love, especially if you enjoy the taste of grape juice, grape popsicles, and grape jam. We hope you’ll give this flavor a try at our next farmers market! 

Summertime Kombucha Lineup: Blackberry Lavender

For our third and final flavor of the Summertime kombucha lineup, we decided to go with a Blackberry Lavender flavor. We had a lavender booch a few seasons back as part of the very first lineup we did, and really thought it’d shine alongside the other Summer flavors. We tweaked it a bit to carry a more approachable flavor to both new and seasoned kombucha drinkers alike. So we chose a flavor both fruity and herbal, and we’re glad we did. 

We brew this flavor using organic lavender buds, organic powdered vanilla, and organic blackberry powder (freeze-dried and grinded to a powder) in a cold second ferment after finishing our first fermentation. Lightly sweet and floral, we had to really fine-tune the balance between fruity blackberry and herbal lavender. We found that adding just a pinch of vanilla is enough to make this booch incredibly satisfying to drink. For the color, we decided to go with purple, just like the color of lavender. We could have chosen this color for Hibiscus Grape, but thought it was more appropriate and distinct for this flavor instead.

Most people who approach lavender-flavored anything are hesitant to try it because they’re afraid it’ll taste like soap, and they’re not wrong to think so. I’ve personally tried an alcoholic lavender beverage that tasted like I was drinking hand soap; no thanks. Through trial and error, we’ve discovered that choosing just the right amount of time to ferment is essential for crafting our Blackberry Lavender. Adding a little fruit and spice is the last step we needed to make this flavor epic, and we bet it’ll be your next favorite booch. When it comes to samples, we hope you’ll give this flavor a shot! 

Summertime Fun 

Summer is our busiest season yet. We have three new kombucha flavors and three Springtime flavors that will stay in the lineup for a while, which includes Honey Chamomile, Cardamom Pear, and Blueberry Lemon. We’ve increased our time in the commercial kitchen over at the Worcester Regional Food Hub, and added a number of brew vessels to make sure we have plenty of booch in stock. 

So while you’re out and about having fun in the Summer sun, be sure to stop by and visit us at the Brimfield Farmers’ Market Saturdays from 9am-1pm, Sturbridge Farmers’ Market Sundays from 9am-1pm, and West Brookfield Farmers’ Market Wednesdays from 3pm-6pm from June to early October. We gladly give free samples, and look forward to seeing you there!