Not all kombucha is created equal.
At Loon Kombucha, we take pride in crafting real kombucha—the kind that’s alive, naturally fermented, and made the way it’s been done for centuries. In a market flooded with “kombucha-inspired” beverages, it’s important to share what makes our process authentic—and why that authenticity matters for your gut, your tastebuds, and your health. It's sad to say - but some of the best-selling kombucha in Canada is the fake stuff.
Real Kombucha Needs Real Fermentation
Kombucha is a fermented tea. It’s not just a flavour or a vibe. Kombucha is made by dissolving sugar into steeped tea and adding a bacterial culture called a SCOBY (Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast). The SCOBY then consumes that sugar—and this consumption of sugar is the fermentation process. After a few weeks (depending on the temperature), the product is ready to drink. Fermentation transforms sweetened tea into an effervescent probiotic-rich drink.
At Loon, every batch includes this time-honoured process. We do a few things differently—cold-brewing and using extremely high-quality water—but the core method remains unchanged. We ferment using real SCOBYs, not powdered cultures or shortcuts. The result? A vibrant, complex flavour that can’t be faked—and a living drink that continues to evolve in the bottle or can.
In a world full of fake health drinks, the ones made in actual breweries are the ones you can trust. Loon Kombucha is one of them.
Sugar Is Not the Enemy—It’s the Fuel
One of the most common misconceptions about kombucha centres around sugar. Yes, we use sugar—but not to sweeten. Sugar is essential to fermentation. It feeds the bacteria and yeast. Without it, fermentation simply doesn’t happen.
Do we use added sugar? No kombucha brewery on Earth uses “added sugar”—this is a social media talking point started by someone chasing likes and impressions. If you want a sweeter kombucha, you just fermented it for a shorter duration. There’s no need to add more of what’s already in there. One of the key questions you should be asking is:
Does your kombucha contain any artificial sweeteners?
A clean ingredient deck is what matters for your gut health —so you can eliminate ultra-processed foods from your diet once and for all.
Some brands advertise “sugar-free” kombucha, but that raises a red flag. If there’s no sugar, there’s no fermentation. The remaining sugar is what keeps the kombucha in its current state of being alive, and without that sugar the product is lifeless. If the product is lifeless, what exactly are you drinking?
We believe in transparency: Loon Kombucha ferments with Organic Fairtrade cane sugar, which is mostly consumed during fermentation. What remains on canning day is about as much as you'd find in a small apple—just enough to keep the culture alive and your kombucha active.
Did You Know?
In real kombucha, the sugar amount decreases over time as it’s consumed by live bacteria. This means the sugar number on the label is already outdated by the time you’re drinking it. It’s less!
And what happens to the kombucha bacteria when the sugar runs out entirely?
You guessed it– a bacteria funeral: the product has expired and the lifeless liquid can be discarded.
This is why sugar-free kombucha serves no purpose. Real kombucha is a beverage of substance—just like apples contain sugars and deliver real apple benefits, kombucha contains sugar and deliver real kombucha benefits. Likewise, a sugar-free kombucha makes about as much sense as a sugar-free apple.
Living Drinks Should Live in the Fridge
Next up: shelf stability. You’ll find Loon Kombucha in the refrigerated section, where living food belongs. That’s because our kombucha is raw and unpasteurized, with active live cultures. Refrigeration slows fermentation, which means the bacteria takes longer to consume that sugar, making the product last longer and maintaining the ideal balance of flavour and fizz for as long as possible —just the way we intended it.
Shelf-stable kombucha, on the other hand, has usually been pasteurized or heavily filtered to stop fermentation. These drinks are no longer “alive” in the traditional sense and are often sweetened artificially to mimic fermentation-derived flavour. If they are alive, the alcohol is building because a secondary fermentation is underway. If you put Loon Kombucha cans on the shelf, the liquid will burst through the seams in the can within 4-6 weeks because it will continue to ferment. This is what is supposed to happen to a sealed kombucha that is not refrigerated.
Did You Know?
Did you know that many large “kombucha” brands aren’t even produced in breweries? They’re co-packed in soda factories, right alongside colas and energy drinks. Do we believe soda factory staff are managing SCOBYs in that facility? Absolutely not.
In the wake of the 2025 Poppi Lawsuit, it’s time to start questioning the authenticity of shelf-stable, sugar-free drinks that claim to boost your gut health. Many mass produced beverages often rely on synthetic prebiotics, artificial sweeteners, and functional buzzwords to appear healthy—while offering none of the microbial benefits of traditional fermentation.
We Don’t Add Sweeteners That Harm Gut Health
At Loon Kombucha, we don’t add erythritol, stevia, monk fruit, or other so-called natural sweeteners. No guar gums either. We have a strict ‘no weird stuff’ policy. These ingredients have been shown to disrupt your microbiome and actually inhibit gut health.
If the goal of drinking kombucha is to support your gut, why include an ingredient that undermines it? The answer: Marketing manipulation.
Corporations know consumers are trying to reduce sugar (and in 99% of cases they should be) so the big businesses exploit that fear. They package gut-disrupting drinks full of artificial sweeteners and lab-made additives to make it sugar-free, then slap on the phrase “kombucha” or “prebiotic” or “gut-healthy” and sell it as beneficial – all while knowing it may harm the very microbiome it claims to support. It’s not just misleading. It’s backwards.
We prefer to keep things simple: real ingredients, naturally fermented, nothing weird.
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And while consumers fall for the trick and purchase those gut-destroying “health” sodas, small kombucha microbreweries are going out of business across North America. In Ontario alone, we have seen over a dozen kombucha breweries close over the last few years – and we would wager that all of them were making authentic kombucha with the best intentions. |
On that note—we’re not the only ones doing it right. Plenty of independent craft kombucha breweries are still honouring the traditional fermentation process. It’s the big companies you have to worry about. Want to evaluate the veracity of a kombucha brewery near you? Check off three simple things: 1) find an image of their SCOBY posted to social media 2) confirm that the final product contains sugar and 3) check that their bottles/cans require refrigeration. If they achieve the trifecta, you should trust that it’s the real deal.
Sidebar Bad News: you know those pickles you always buy, the ones not stocked in the fridge? They probably aren't alive either. You need to chose the refrigerated kind with the cloudy brine. Just like authentic kombucha, even those ones die too. Over time, the bacteria will consume all the sugars from the pickles and the brine, and then the probiotics go too. No Sugar = No Bueno.
Why All This Matters
We believe fermented foods (kombucha especially) should be as alive as the people who drink it.
Real kombucha supports gut health because it’s made by—and still contains—living cultures. It tastes the way it does because nature did the work, not a flavour lab. Loon Kombucha may lack the ability to sit on warm shelf for 12 months and still taste drinkable, but we think that’s a good thing.
When you drink Loon, you’re drinking the real thing: brewed with care in our Canadian brewery, fermented with intention, and kept cold to preserve everything that makes kombucha worth drinking. Kombucha is a beverage of substance and is not intended to be calorie-free.
Now that you Know — Here’s 15% Off
Thanks for reading! Now that you know what real kombucha is all about—live cultures, real fermentation, no gimmicks—here’s a little thank you for being informed.
Use code REALBOOCH101 at checkout to get 15% off a 24-pack of Loon Kombuchas until December 31 2025, brewed the traditional way and shipped right to your door. One use per household.
Please share this article with your kombucha-loving friends who keep buying the lifeless shelf stable stuff!!