Kombucha Brooklyn Home Brew Kit

First and foremost, we ordered this kit on October 5th, and it arrived to us on time - but it was NOT as described (half gallon rather than a gallon kit). Disappointed, we contacted Kombucha Brooklyn via email (through their site), and let them know the situation (we ordered through Amazon, thought we got this, got this instead, etc.)Here is their exact response:"We're unfortunately aware of this issue. Amazon has been mishandling our listings for a while, and we're in the process of wrangling it back under our direct control. We had been assured that this issue had been addressed, but it seems a few of the wrong kits have gone out.In the interest of taking care of our customers, not only are you going to be able to keep that kit, I'm going to personally ship out a new gallon jar, as well as the supplies for a gallon brew, including a SCOBY culture free of charge. This package is heading out today. The instructions included will address how to brew, but also consider that a gallon requires a full cup of sugar, as well as one of our 12 gram tea bags (you'll have both in the second package).If you could, do one thing for me, and send that code so we can deactivate it for our own records.I've CC'd my direct email, so please feel free to reach out if you have any questions or any other concerns. We're passionate here, and customer satisfaction is our top priority.As for the extra half gallon kit? I recommend you use it to run experimental brews. The gallon brew will produce a new scoby, so use the old mother to try new stuff in your half-gallon jar. That will propagate a new child SCOBY, and you can keep going indefinitely. Want to try a crazy different tea? Or maybe a new sugar? Keep it going for a bit of variety."So, not only did we get a half-gallon kit, we got a gallon kit too. We also took the suggestion and we're currently doing a 1 gallon regular kombucha (which is delicious - for those of you who are curious), and a 1/2 gallon that is being infused with our homegrown mint during conditioning.Admittedly, while we appreciated the organic sugar and tea, we found that regular white sugar worked faster and doesn't actually affect the taste (when compared to the sugar they provided).The product itself is high quality. Sturdy jars, the cloth cover works (no cross-contamination so far!), and the temperature read on the side is accurate when cross-checked with our kitchen thermostat and personal brewing thermometer...which is exactly what you want to have!Overall, while it wasn't what we were expecting, we were able to resolve the issue via email over the course of 48 hours. All in all, it was an extra 3 days from the time we thought we'd be getting the kit from Amazon and the time we got what we ordered from Kombucha Brooklyn. Moral of the story: it pays to bypass Amazon and just contact the seller yourself.EDITED TO ADD: It tastes DELICIOUS. We're on our 3rd batch right now and it is awesome! I recommend that you bottle it the same we you bottle beer (get a good seal if you want it to carbonate), and then stick it in the fridge after 3-4 days of bottle conditioning. The cold temperature will mellow out the carbonated (re: it will flatten a little), but it'll taste almost identical to some of the bigger brand's store bought kombucha...

Looks nice, would be appropriate for a gift set or something. However, I found the brewing jar to actually be quite small so I just went to a thrift store and found some great vintage glass jars and containers that were larger and look much cuter on my counter. I live in Minnesota and had received my kit in the middle of winter but was unable to ever claim my scoby because our cold winter temps would have killed the scoby during shipping. By the time spring came and temperatures were warmer, my husband had long since recycled the clunky box with my redemption code printed on it. :-( I ended up just getting a scoby for free from a friend. I will say that the company that makes this kit was VERY easy to get a hold of and responded to my e mail questions right away...and not just with a generic response....one that a real live actual human being typed! Yay for that! If you're giving this as a gft, it's perfect!!! If you're starting up your own home brew station, save yourself some money and re-purpose some cute containers and find a scoby locally at a farmers market or on Craigslist . Scobys grow so quickly that often times people (like myself) are happy to give them away for free to loving homes.

If you read and pay attention to what your are buying you will see you are getting a 1/2 gallon glass jar, 1 100% organic cloth jar cover with rubber band, 1 brews worth of tea, temp strip, the scoby DOES NOT COME WITH KIT BUT you can order one FREE from the company the directions to receive your scoby are on side panel of the box. So there for I ordered a scoby which arrived the same day. This is great for learning to brew your own Kombucha and getting started. I will be buying a bigger jar and start making my own scoby so this kit was a perfect place to start. Expert brewers look away bc you will only find reasons to complain about this very simple very basic kit.

I bought this kit because I love Kombucha and wanted to start making my own. I was disappointed to see that the kit arrived without the SCOBY. That could be entirely my fault for not fully reading the project description. The box does contain a claim code so that you can claim your SCOBY on the company's website. I ordered mine yesterday and haven't gotten a shipping confirmation yet.The ingredients and equipment look like really good quality and the directions on the box are easy to understand and follow. I'm looking forward to brewing my own Kombucha whenever my SCOBY arrives.

It is very hard to tell from the pic that this is a half gallon jar and not a full gallon. It also doesn't come with the scoby- that shipped separately which isn't indicated anywhere I could see. That was a disappointment as I could not brew right away and also I had to pay my shipment receiver twice for this kit! (I use a postal service for package receiving) It was a lot of money for what you get, but now I have a bought a separate big gallon jar and can do my own big brews. I should have just bought the scoby!

I was quite frustrated to find this was only a half gallon kit when I first got it. However all things considered I'm very happy with what I got and I'd shop at kombucha Brooklyn in the future. The Scoby was great quality and made a delicious brew. The tea they included was fantastic as well. I brew about a gallon and a half every week now.

I ordered my kit- and even though it specifically says on this page that I would receive my SCOBY along with the kit- I still had to go online to claim it and now I have to wait several more days to begin brewing. The kit itself is nice, but I was expecting to receive everything together in one shipment, as described.

This kit started me on my new path to brewing my own kombucha!! I had not idea what a "scoby" was, let alone that I would end up LOVING mine so much!! Seriously, I knew nothing about it but wanted to start...this kit was easy to use & the recipe was all I needed.