food

Since kombucha is now mainstream, we trialled the seven best flavours out there.

Remedy Kombucha
Thanks to our brand partner, Remedy Kombucha

Over recent years, there’s one K word that’s crept into our daily lives as much as the word Kardashian…and that’s KOMBUCHA.

I know what you’re thinking. Kombucha drinkers are hipster millennials who munch too much kale (another popular K word of today), spend up on mortgage-busting avo toasts, and tend to microherb gardens on the micro-balcony of their inner-city shoebox apartments.

But this is a furphy. Kombucha is no longer the domain of a few who have learnt how to ferment this live cultured drink at home. It’s now everywhere. Supermarkets. Cafés. My fridge. Maybe your fridge too.

You can thank Remedy Kombucha for that. Since 2012, husband and wife team Emmet and Sarah Condon took their Melbourne kitchen bench kombucha recipe and turned it into a bottled drink that’s healthy, organic, and tastes just like soft drink. Just without the sugar or bad stuff.

Now living in the Mornington Peninsula, the Condons still brew their kombucha with the same recipe – but in a Melbourne fermentary. It’s brewed for 30 days with organic tea and raw kombucha culture (also known as SCOBY, or Symbiotic Community of Bacteria and Yeast). That means each bottle has good bacteria for your gut, organic acids that support your immune system and metabolism, and antioxidants.

Today, Remedy has seven flavours: Apple Crisp, Cherry Plum, Raspberry Lemonade, Ginger Lemon, Hibiscus Kiss, Original, and the newly released Lemon, Lime & Mint. If you haven’t tried them all yet, the Mamamia team has done that for you to help you decide which one is the remedy for you:

Kombucha
Line 'em up: Will the best kombucha please stand up? Image: Supplied
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    Adam Bub, Commercial Editor. Remedy flavour: Apple Crisp.

Adam Bub
I'm like Kermit. I like green things. Image: Supplied.
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What it tastes like: A cider-gasm.
What I call it: Adam's Apple
It's my remedy for…after-work drinks FOMO. Look, I love having an apple cider with my colleagues at our local, but last week I faced a dilemma. I had to choose between after-work drinks or the gym class I'd already booked into (first world problem, I know). Feeling guilty about my lack of exercise that week, I opted to skip drinks and suffered instant FOMO. I washed it down with Remedy's Apple Crisp – my go-to bevvy to get the flavour of an apple cider without the alcohol. My gut was ready for the gym and thanked me for it. FOMO gone. *Confession: Exactly a week later I had an Apple Crisp kombucha with a Grill'd burger. My guts were very happy with that too.

Amy Boyle, Digital Sales Coordinator. Remedy flavour: Ginger Lemon.

Amy Boyle
Trust me, I've got glasses. And the Ginger Lemon kombucha. Image: Supplied
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What it tastes like: Refreshing with a bit of bite.
What I call it: Spicy Water
It's my remedy for… When I'm finally home after a hard day at work and I muster the last of my energy to smash out a really solid 25-minute gym routine all I want at the end is a glass of... something. Something refreshing and rehydrating but still tasty. I'd love a wine but I'm too aware that what I really need after a long day is something hydrating. That's when Remedy's Ginger Lemon Kombucha came into my life and unlike a Kanye tweet it made absolute perfect sense.

It's the perfect TV paring: The ABC 24 news channel live streamed from your Mac, because you don't have a TV.

Belinda Jepsen, Content Producer. Remedy flavour: Lemon, Lime & Mint.

Remedy Kombucha
Lemon, Lime & Mint: The mojito of kombucha. Image: Supplied.
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What it tastes like: So fresh, so clean.

What I call it: My midday mojito.

It's my remedy for...Monday-itis. It's generally not acceptable to be drinking cocktails in the middle of a Monday. Especially if you're at work! But when I'm two meetings deep and the weekend already seems like a distant memory, it sure is nice to pretend. The new Lemon, Lime and Mint flavour is the first kombucha I've tried, and I'm a convert. It's a healthy, tasty way to refresh after hours sitting in front of my computer screen.

Batoul Peters, Head of Strategy. Remedy flavour: Raspberry Lemonade.

Batoul Peters
"Oh I didn't see you there taking a photo of me with my booch." Image: Supplied.
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What it tastes like: That old-fashioned pink lemonade from your childhood.
What I call it: Queen B Lemonade
It's my remedy for… The mum/boss life! With a 5AM start every day (oh hey two kids), and little sleep in between, my pick-me-ups are essential to keeping me functioning throughout the day. Having recently discovered Remedy Kombucha, I am now replacing my afternoon cup of coffee with the deliciousness that is Raspberry Lemonade. Yep, this one seems to be a favourite in our office. It's like a healthy pink lemonade, just without the food colouring and the sugar. Since I made the switch, it's been a fresh welcome flavour change from the heavy milky coffee I was having.

Vanessa Rossini, Direct Sales Manager. Remedy flavour: Hibiscus Kiss.

Vanessa
Hibiscus Kiss me all weekend. Image: Supplied.
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What it tastes like: Flowery and a little fiery.
What I call it: Fiery Kiss
It's my remedy for... My weekend routine! I start my weekend with brunch at my favourite cafe (my go-to order: vegan poke bowl with a side of Remedy Kombucha's Hibiscus Kiss!) followed by a trip to the flower markets to grab some fresh posies for my house. I'm not really a party animal, so my weekends are usually for relaxing and going for walks along the beach. My favourite thing to do at night is to order in and watch Netflix with my partner, ending the night with chocolate (vegan!) and a kiss.

Jessica Wang, Editorial Assistant. Remedy Flavour: Cherry Plum.

Jess Wang
It's got Kakadu plum in it. Yes to that. Image: Supplied.
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What it tastes like: Chic-a-cherry-cola.
What I call it: My New Desk Buddy
It's my remedy for... A better work mood! It's my lunch time sweet treat that I’d like to think makes my boring tuna salad just that little bit more gourmand. Kind of like a sweet, tangy cocktail that’s you know... desk-appropriate. The fact that it’s full of probiotics and great for my gut health - something that I’m very conscious of, is just a plus at this point. You could call it my favourite deskmate (sorry, Amy).

Janine Bessant, Research & Insights Manager. Remedy flavour: Original.

Remedy Kombucha
Smile if you "booch". Image: Supplied.
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What it tastes like: Crisp, tart and bubbly.
What I call it: The O.G.
It's my remedy for…Treating myself without the guilt factor. I am super health conscious but have a very big sweet tooth. I literally don't want to go a day without eating chocolate - so I cut my sugar down in other areas of my life so I can enjoy an after dinner (and maybe a sneaky after lunch) piece of chocolate. I noticed there's an I Quit Sugar approval on the bottle, which gets my tick as well. Remedy's Original is the enabler in my life to do just this - the remedy for my sweet tooth craving that enables me to also enjoy that chocolate.

So that's our remedy. What's yours? Tell us in the comments. 

(Adam Bub is Mamamia's Commercial Editor but will hereby change his title to Kombucha Editor if allowed.)