THE BOOCHISODE with Buster and Angie Brown of Counter Culture Kombucha

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MT  0:00  
I'm Maria and welcome to seasonal. This week, I had the pleasure of taste testing local mango varieties from mango men. And boy, was it a treat. I mentioned this last week, but I finally got through all of the varieties. And it's just so crazy because, you know, people say that fruit is nature's candy. But I think mangoes are actually nature's candy. Because it's just crazy how these mango growers are able to manipulate the flavors of the product. I'll get into it, but it's insane. So, of course, while I was taste testing these, I got way too into this and took notes and ranked the varieties because you know, this is what excites me in life. So I'm going to highlight a few of them. And I hope I do this justice because I really want you guys to kind of pick to what these actually tasted like because some of them are just unbelievable. Okay, so first, I'm going to start with my favorite, to least favorite. So my favorite one was called lemon zest. And it's so smooth and had a lemony flavor, no fibers, it was delicious and soft. Then also, as I'm describing these, some of them are super fibrous, and they have a ton of fibers that get stuck in your teeth. And then some of them are very smooth and soft, and you could just slice them straight through and there's no fiber, which is crazy. Some of them are also juicier than others. So some of them like you can just run your finger between the flesh and the skin and remove it from the skin and then others that are less juicy, you have to actually slice it off with a knife. So that was kind of interesting, just in the texture of them. But Okay, the next one, my second favorite was coconut cream. And this one was also smooth, not fibrous at all. It really tasted like a pina colada. It was sweet. It was so soft and delicious. And like you guys can tell why I think these varieties are comparable to Candy because they could really they could pair two different varieties together and create crazy flavors. So my third favorite one was orange essence. This I think was the least February's out of all of them. It was super smooth. It legit tasted like an orange, mango orange, but it was like an orange sherbert this one I loved. So this one is specific to mango men. This one is called King lion. It's a new variety that they have. And I cut it open and it was a it was orange in color. So it was really beautiful. And I don't know if you all have ever experienced this in a mango but it was kind of like grainy, which is so desirable to me. I love when they kind of had that slight grainy consistency. And it was creamy, tasted like a creamsicle and it was amazing. It was so good. Okay, the next one, this one's also specific to mango men. It's called Vulcan. This one was also smooth. I wrote in my notes lemonade. It did taste like lemonade. It had some fiber to it. Not, not the most, but it did have some more fiber. It was tart. It kind of tasted a little bit citrusy. So I really liked that one. Okay, and then this one, I'm just skipping all the way down to the last one on my list. So there's a bunch in between not we're good somewhere in that good. But um, Orion. So, if you guys remember, when I had Tiago on my podcast, he said that some mango varieties taste like petroleum. But the genes of those mangoes are desirable because they fight off pests. So they often will breed those varieties with some of the other varieties so they can produce a really strong DNA. And so I was like, What are you talking about? petroleum? No, I don't I can't even picture that. So as I was tasting some of these varieties, yeah, like I totally understood what he was talking about with the petroleum. So this one, this last one Orion definitely tasted. I definitely tasted the petroleum It was better. Not It was my least favorite. But yeah, it's crazy how I actually like right when I bit into it. I was like, Oh, this is what he was talking about. So yeah, I was just interesting how you think of mango and you think oh yeah, that's one fruit like all bananas tastes the same all oranges pretty much stays the same all lemon stays the same but mangoes. No, they can taste completely different from each other. And it's just insane. And you wouldn't even believe it until you try it for yourselves. So I just kind of wanted to give you guys an overview of that experience for me because it was really shocking. It was really eye opening. I loved it. Okay, so today is a very special day because we get to talk about all things boooch. That's right. It's a boot episode. You guys know I love the boot and probably talk about it way more than you all would prefer. But, I mean, how could you hate a beverage that tastes amazing? And it's just really fun to drink and it also serves you probiotics like, come on. It's a dietitian's dream. So today we will be chatting with Buster and Angie BOOOCH. Just kidding. Their last name is Brown. brother and sister duo behind counterculture kombucha, along with busters wife, Natalie, so I wanted to chat with them because they are known for their crazy flavors which are flavored using local produce, and their flavors are also seasonal, so you know it's legit. They are an amazing example of what it means to support local food and advocate for the importance of the local food movement through their flavors, which speak louder than words. So let's pick their brains about my favorite drink kombucha.

MT  0:00  
I'm super excited about this interview just because I'm, I'm an amateur I kombucha brewing, but I just started brewing it in my home over quarantine. So maybe for the past three months, and I love it and so I can't wait for you guys to tell me a bit more about how you guys do it. But can you start by telling us a bit about how counterculture got started? Sure.

BB  0:29  
Yes, I started drinking kombucha in the early 2000s. I was introduced to it from my mother, who suggested I take it for suggestive property. And around 2005 2006 is when I moved to Miami, I was gifted my first culture aka scoby from my mother, and brought it home for myself and my family started about two gallons a month nothing special, just original flavor didn't play around with anything other than the original workout, I would say five years. And then 2010 started experimenting with local fruits, local tropicals, as I got acquainted with South Florida agriculture became a junkie of farmers markets in the South Florida area learned about what grows down here. And what flavors really excited me. I love that. Yeah. Around 2012 2013 buying exclusively from a few farmers at the Pipers farmers market. I know from your previous interviews that you're shopping, Pinecrest Gardens farmers market?

MT  1:37  
Yes, I do. That's my favorite

BB  1:39  
Mine as well. So I would buy from Olga no longer there. But she's a farmer in the South Florida area used to sell at the farmers market. And then also in chocolate foods from Flora Sutton. She's the founder and owner of blueberries and farms. And she turned out to be my first customer. This is a 2013. And she was insisting along with my partner, Natalie, that I turn it into a business. So around 2013, Natalie and I sort of taken it quite seriously turning my hobby into a business at this time, I was maybe brewing about, I would say between 15 and 20 gallons a month for my family, which at this point a lot. In 2013, we decided to jump right in. We filed our paperwork with the state of Florida. And counterculture was born. That's

MT  2:34  
amazing. How were you brewing? How are you able to brew that much from your home? Like, what kind of equipment did that require?

BB  2:42  
Well, it's been about four months, we were doing about two batches, possibly three batches a month. So this was just you know, a new batch would start as soon as the old batch was over. So this wasn't simultaneous growing 15 to 20 gallons. This was in three batches a month we had small cupboards still have this small cover right outside the kitchen where it has two, two and a half gallon glass jars and could play around with different tropical flavors, fruits, fruits and herbs. Everything on its own. I was willing to try. Yeah. And I got some inspiration from some national brands promotion. So five sounds something I really liked. I gave it a try. Maybe add a twist to it added something that you know grows down here that only we have access to.

MT  3:34  
Yeah, yeah. When I first start even my first brew, the thing I was most excited about was getting to flavor it. So I flavored my first batch and it was I got really creative like I had, I think I have eight bottles and I pretty much flavored each bottle with a different flavor because I was so excited to to experiment with the tastes and everything. Okay, but before we get into the flavors, which I'm really excited to talk about, but I first want you guys to give a brief overview of what kombucha is, and what are its health benefits.

AB  4:18  
I can take that question. So kombucha in simple terms is a fermented tea. So it's been around for thousands of years. And like in all cultures, there's some type of fermented food or beverage in in diets around the world. So this particular fermented beverage comes from Asia, and it's a fermented tea, what we do is we use an organic black tea and we use an organic Florida cane sugar that stops the sugar, that's you. In ours. We also do a similar fermented tea, which is called June and that's a little bit different. Same family but that's green tea and honey So in simple terms, and the fermenting agent, or the culture is what Buster mentioned earlier, it's called a scoby. And that does all the work. So that turns the tea and the sugar into the good stuff. Closer. Do you want to add to that at all?

BB  5:17  
Oh, yeah. So when we throw the word tea out, people want to compare it to other tea products they've had. And they'll also ask, oh, well, is this tea? Is this severe? Is this it's soda. So I try and give it something for a customer that's not familiar with this product. I give it something that's really it's closest relative, though it's made from T, I don't put it into the T category. I put it into the tanker category, and it's closest relative is apple cider vinegar. For sort of a reference for people that are familiar with the product, the flavor profile is going to be most similar to, to apple cider vinegar. While apple cider typically served flat, room temperature and often diluted, kombucha is typically served cold and carbonated. So there are some some differences. But why don't we make a fermented tea product? This really belongs in the category of vinegar.

MT  6:15  
And I just had a question for you guys, kind of for my personal experience. Why is it that you're only able to use tea that's that has caffeine in it and not herbal teas to brew kombucha?

BB  6:31  
Well, most commercial brewers will use either green tea or black tea, or a mixture of the two. And I do know there are some brewers that are experimenting with other teas. In my mix, some donated teas. I think I've had a few products so I can put your products that made either partially or exclusively with decaffeinated tea. I remember them being enjoyable and pleasurable. I'm not convinced that you need caffeinated teas to make them. Okay, but a really full bodied black tea kombucha, it has a little more punch to it. And that, to me is how identifies potency, you have a little bit of kickback to you where you kind of focus on that it's not like drinking kombucha while doing other things. This kind of makes you think about what your drink as something packing a punch. And these other tea blends. Well, I think you can make a motion with them. And I've enjoyed them. I think they're a good tasting beverage. I question whether you can have a traditional potent combos with some of these decaffeinated teas. But you know, for me, the jury's still out. And we're experimenting with different tea blends, and I'm sure we'll try to incorporate some herbal teas, decaffeinated teas.

MT  7:54  
So it's not, it's not necessarily the caffeine that's required. It's just that the black teas tend to have a stronger bolder flavor, because I have a cabinet full of herbal teas. And then the I was looking online and it said that I needed to use black teas. So I so I didn't want to use any because I have like hibiscus tea and maringa and all these things and I wasn't sure if I'd be able to use those,

BB  8:22  
You may need to sprinkle those in not use those exclusively. Okay, okay. home brewers and commercial growers sort of introduce new keys to their cultures, which, you know, by now that cultures reproduce every batch and most maintain the same cultures. From the beginning, I still have the original, or the next generation wine of my original scoby. I was gifted from my mother in 2005.

MT  8:53  
Oh how special

BB  8:54  
Yeah, you're very proud of that. That's amazing. And while while these cultures, aka scobys get accustom to the fuel, they're, you're you're feeding them. It's best to slowly introduce new primary ingredients such as an herbal tea blend, so you're not shocking your skin. Okay? Yeah, they're pretty Hardy. I consider a scoby. The kombucha culture itself a very hardy culture, very hard to contaminate kill off.

MT  9:24  
And yeah, is it true that when it starts turning, I mean, I haven't gotten to this point yet. But how do you know when to stop using a scoby?

BB  9:35  
You would want to identify contaminants in the scoby so while I've messed up plenty of ferments at home, I'm a I'm a culture junkie probably like yourself. I've tried to ferment for the last decade or more. I screwed up a whole host of ferments, but kombucha kind of in my wheelhouse. Although I don't think it's anything I'm doing. I just think kombucha is one of the more easier wholesalers to work with you got, you know, a physical culture that you can use a visual identification to make sure it looks good, smells good and tastes good. And you can sample your product throughout the process. You know you're not in jars.

MT  10:14  
Yeah, it's definitely more tangible and it makes it a lot easier to manipulate like the like, I've also been experimenting with sourdough starters. And it's like, that thing has a mind of its own. I don't even know what's going on with with that half the time but the but my my scobys just I know what's gonna happen. I know what it's doing. I don't have to worry about it.

BB  10:36  
Yes, I find a level of consistency with our scobys that has been maintained for 15 years now. And plenty of other cultures have given us fits. June like Angie mentioned spell j un that's given us fit non alcoholic ginger beer and other things I've tried for my family at home. Just the results are very wild. Yeah.

MT  11:01  
And Angie, just really quick the Jun it's it's a similar product except instead of using sugar you're using honey. Right.

AB  11:10  
So the scoby is a specific Jun scoby, but you can't take a kombucha scoby and brew gin fermenting. You can't it'll die. Because honey is an anti microbial, anti bacterial, anti viral, it'll, it'll kill it will work. So the June scoby is looks the same. I mean, everything about it is the same. Except for in the case of our stuff. We are doing green tea as it's some tea base, and we're doing organic honey as a sugar.

MT  11:40  
Yeah. I would love to try that.

AB  11:42  
Yeah. And actually, I mean, we use we brewed Jun, maybe four or five years ago. And you know, like, like Buster said it. We had problems with it. We just said you know what, the computer is way more popular. Let's not deal with this right now. Let's bring it back eventually. But and then one of our speakers, Laura, who he mentioned, she was just encouraging us again and saying, hey, let's get this back in the rotation. We did it. And I mean, personally, I'm all about the Jun now.

MT  12:11  
I feel like I would love that. Yeah, especially in the summer. It's super refreshing. It's like, you know, I've heard it compared to like the champagne of fermented beverages. need that? And then really quickly, I know, I keep asking so many follow up questions about this, but I'm just really curious. I'm the, okay, I drink a bottle of kombucha. I drink kombucha a lot these days. But when I first started drinking it maybe like four years ago or something, I drank one at work. And I felt like a little a little like loopy, kind of. And then I looked at the the back of the bottle, and it says that it contains like a very small percentage of alcohol. And now that I know, kind of more about the process of how fermentation works. And I know that alcohol is a byproduct of the cells consuming the carbohydrates, or the sugars. So can you tell us a bit about that and how much alcohol is in a bottle? And is there is it even considered? Do you even need to mention it because it's such a small amount?

AB  13:21  
Yes, we do need to mention it. It is such a small amount. So our levels are going to be below 0.5% which makes it a non alcoholic beverage so we definitely market it to all people you know it's super healthy for kids. I don't have kids by Buster Doll's House for them. They're all fanatics. So also, Lily, she joined get through all four pregnancies, super healthy. So we dumped pregnant women, obviously you need to talk to your doctor. But it's safe for everybody. So alcohol content, it comes up in the conversation, but it's not something that I that I highlight in any way and actually a lot of a lot of recovering. Also use it as a replay. Wow, and really enjoy it. So yeah.

MT  14:07  
Okay, so now can you guys give us a brief overview of the brewing process from start to finish?

AB  14:16  
Yeah, so as as you know, if you're going to start with some type of a tea and a sugar in the scope, so that's what you're going to start with, you're going to brew the tea and let it cool. You're going to add the culture and you're going to I always tell people that are interested that you should choose a glass vessel just to fermented in I try to stay away from plastic try to stay away from metal. But glass, usually one gallon or two gallon tank is a great way to start. And you're going to cover it with a cloth and a rubber band. You don't want any contaminants getting in through flies, flies and things like that. And you're going to store it anywhere between the general is 10 to 30 30 days, our number is that 72 degrees for 14 days. So that's our primary fermentation. You know, depending on the temperature of your home, depending on where you've got it, you've got to stored away from light. So I tell people put it underneath your kitchen counter, put it in a closet, our people kind of put a physical barrier around it, if they're going to like if they're going to leave it on their counter. And at that point, you want to add, probably day 10, start sampling it. So it's going to go from a really sweet tea to getting, you know, like what Walter was saying a little bit closer towards it like a vinegar, soda. And depending on how long you let it go, it's actually going to get more medicinal, the longer that it sits. And like I said, so our rule of thumb is 72 degrees for 14 days, that's the primary ready to drink at that time, if you want. So put it in the fridge and bottle it. Or you can then take it another step, which is where people can get creative. But you can also have some, some kitchen methods with this, but then you can flavor it. So that's considered secondary fermentation, which you're taking and introducing a flavor. You had mentioned earlier that you had all these teas in your cabinet. At that point, you can introduce a Moringa. Tea, you can introduce some of those flavorful elements. For example, one of our secondary fermentation is we use a chai tea, we don't brew this with a chai tea, we use that in secondary fermentation.

MT  16:35  
Oh, that's so I never thought about that. It's such a good idea. Okay.

AB  16:39  
A lot of people are looking at the farmers market, I have a list here, I want to use it, don't use it in primary, use your blog to be fine at the beginning of the front end, your creativity will come in the in the secondary. So then you can leave that, you know, you take out your mother, you take out your scoby you don't want to contaminate that with the flavor. So it's you know, day 14 or day 10 or whatever day that you decide, you get that in there, you're going to want to leave that anywhere between 24 and you can leave it up to 72 hours 24 to 48 is a great amount of time, then at that point to strain out all the flavors. And then again, you've got kombucha that's ready to drink, get it in bottles, get it your fridge and drink it that way. There's this is where it can get a little bit tricky. This is the bottle conditioning stuff. So instead of sticking it right in your fridge, leave that bottle of kombucha on your counter away from light away from the courses. And you can kind of play with and really, you know, get a nice full body carbonated kombucha. So the general rule is, I mean, while we'd experience anywhere from 24 hours to original in the wintertime can be bottle conditioned for up to 10 weeks closer. So that time period is a little bit wider. And that's where people have their bottles to nursing but um, you know, General is about 24 to 48 hours in the bottles on the counter out. Generate that curve of the you know, to build up that carbonation. So, yeah, but that's it. That's the stuff.

MT  18:14  
I love that it's making me so thirsty. Just hearing you say that. Okay, and can you walk us through some of your flavors and some of your customers favorite?

BB  18:28  
Sure, well, we follow Florida's growing season. So we've got in the winter time, our roots, the ginger, tumeric, fennel. We do a lot of those in the winter, along the winter berries, strawberry flavor, we do a lot of that December through March and April. And when we can get our hands on them. Local blackberries, local raspberries. As long as we can freeze all of these fruits and roots are later use and transition to our summer tropical fruit flavors. around May and June. When we start introducing our jackfruit flavors, dragon fruit pear of the passion fruit lychee and our mango love, have a few outliers that have a short season, such as macka nine that comes in late summer blueberries kind of early spring late winter crop. But other than those two or three outliers. We really have, you know our two seasons of slavers and we will use those for six months at a time and rotate flavors. And even if we have the opportunity to freeze and use flavors year round cinnabar flavors are seasonal, we will cut the flavor off so we can give it a break and let other flavors you know have their names on.

MT  19:50  
How is it since you guys do flavor based on the seasons. How does that go with your customers that might get super attached to us. In flavor, do you have some people just wishing that can't they can't wait for it to come back? Or how does that go?

BB  20:07  
Yes, absolutely, we have customers that get attached to certain flavors, we try and prepare for that day that coming, hey, we are going to run out of our frozen strawberries, frozen mangoes, whatever we are running low on. And the next time we make this batch and you see it in stores, and at farmer's markets, this will be the last time we have it until that crop comes back in the season. So we do see that I do highly recommend that customers varied flavors, vary their diet throughout the season, though they might not want to. I feel like it's better in the long run for the change and maybe for an opportunity to discover a flavor that they're going to like even more than the one that became attached. So it's a it's a Google game that some customers do not like to play, I think it's important to cut season short. And I think it's very important. In South Florida in particular, where we fall into the same routines, it's human nature. But down here, it's even easier. We walk into the same house and see the same people, we open up or go outside, what do you see, it's the same thing 365 days out of the year. So for me moving down to Florida, from Minnesota, which is where Angela, Angela and I are from the seasonal changes up there. We did the Four Seasons that Shane often brings about emotional growth, spiritual growth, we get there, we don't get that down here. So what I learned was to follow forest growing season and that was an opportunity for me to incorporate change into my South Florida lifestyle. And excited about, you know, when the lychees were coming into the season, the next time I was going to get Muskett on, it makes a taste that much better at something about, you know, waking up your psyche that we just get so stuck into our routines just see it all the time down here. And it's something that I'm very adamant about having most of our products be seasonal in nature, I think it's going to help people in the long run, it certainly did a lot of good for me, I'm trying to get used to a South Florida lifestyle.

MT  22:29  
Yeah, and how you just put that with so eloquently put. And that's exactly what I'm trying to do at this podcast is have people take advantage of our different seasons, even though, if you're just basing it off of the weather down here, you might not even notice any changes. But our plants and our environment is smarter than we are. And it picks up on the higher humidity and the five or six degree changes in temperature. And it provides us with these amazing products that most people don't even notice, you know. So that's what I'm trying to do, and especially what you were saying about the monotony of how we don't have the changing of the seasons here. I was really worried, especially with COVID when it first started and people kind of got into their daily habits and their daily routines. And every day was pretty much the same. And I didn't want just since it's tropical fruit season. Now, I didn't want the summer to go by and tropical fruit season to come and go and then no one would even realize that it came and went. And so I want people to still be going out there and taking advantage of these beautiful, delicious things that nature is offering us right now. And just flavor wise and nutritionally. But I think it's Yeah, it's just it just brings about an excitement when the seasons change. And I think food is such an excellent way for us to experience that.

BB  24:01  
Yeah, you're right. So I think the timing of your podcast is excellent. If I may say so myself, I think that that message is much needed in this day and age. I have noticed that with the coming of the leaching season coming up. In my own personal case, the Tayo red dragon fruit season that really stood out that it was a change in routine monotony. And that's so important for spiritual growth and emotional growth that your podcast would be relevant in any era any day and age but especially now. Your podcast I think is very important. And really a breath of fresh air.

MT  24:48  
Yeah, thank you very much. I'm I'm really, it's something that I care so much about and I'm just trying to spread the message of because not only like I mean, I, I really mentioned this every single episode, and I think my listeners are sick of me saying it. But I come from a background in nutrition. I'm a dietitian. And so we we learn about from a health standpoint, that's that sourcing local is there more nutritious, they're more nutrient dense. And so I get that, but the quality and the flavor and just the way that local produce supports our environment and our economy, it can make a huge impact. And just from I'm not from Miami, originally, I mentioned that every episode also, but just coming to Miami, and seeing all this produce that I've never heard of, or never seen before. And a lot of people just don't even know it exists. So I'm just trying to spread the word and if and if not spread the word just for me to learn because I love learning about this. And yeah, it's really interesting stuff. But thank you so much. That's really that's really nice of you to say, um, but I know I just touched on this a little bit. But can you talk a little bit about the importance of sourcing local and why you guys choose to source local?

BB  26:07  
Sure like what you mentioned before and in your previous podcast interviews. When you're sourcing local. Oftentimes, that produce is picked when it's ripe. Choose this analogy quite frequently with new customers at the market. organic strawberries seems to be the gold standard. When it comes to berries. In law, you can find them It's rare to find in South Florida. Typically our organic strawberries are coming from California and Mexico. They are picked before they're right. So they can ripen on store shelves or they can ripen when in Florida, we have some local strawberry growers in South Florida in Central Florida. That's us organic growing standards might not be certified organic, actually, the most part are not certified organic. But the quality and strawberries, like apples and oranges in comparison, the quality is just amazing when your produce has picked at peak ripeness, and it has been going back and forth between our different Florida strawberry sources. The quality just blows organic strawberries from the other coasts of the country out of the water. You can, I believe tastes how much more nutrient dense and nutritious that is. And that might also be related to small sustainable farming practices from the small farms we sourced from versus the organic industry is, for all intents and purposes run by big act. So your organic, stronger, are massive. I don't consider that sustainable, biodynamic?

MT  27:51  
Yeah, that's a, that's a really good point, too, for people to know is that I think the local aspect of it is more important than whether it's organic, or not, at least at least flavor wise. But when, when you have like, for example, the strawberries that we had here in Miami for that short period of time, as they ripen, the flavor just builds and build and then they get soft, and that's when they're ripe. And they're they smell amazing. But then, if you buy organic strawberries from the supermarket, they don't really they ripen, but they don't really get soft, they just kind of stay hard. And then two days later, they're growing mold. So I that was the main difference. I noticed and like these aren't even getting solved. They're still really hard. And some of them are white, and they don't have as much flavor. So I waited and waited for them to get solved. But then they just started growing mold, whereas the ones here were super juicy and ripe and delicious. Absolutely.

BB  28:54  
Yep. Yeah. And I didn't question but besides having more rice, more nutritious flavor available in your local agriculture, it's so important to get away from in this country, our culture of cars and the distance our food travels from you know, Farm to Plate. So any way you can to minimize this distance traveled is a good decision. So while organic standards, I do seek out the organic certification and understand the industry and will buy organic versus conventional whenever possible. It is very vitally important to cut down on the carbon footprint of our food. So unless my family is begging for strawberries, and I'm out and they're not rolling down here, that's one item I just won't buy even though it's available year round on store shelves. I hate to single out that particular crop.

MT  29:56  
But this is an example Yeah.

BB  29:58  
We are so accustomed in this in this country, to our cars, and the transportation aspect of everything in our lives, that we must be more mindful.

MT  30:11  
Definitely. That's that's such an important thought. Yeah, it's helping Yeah, it's reducing the carbon footprint by minimizing the amount of travel. It's not as harsh on the environment. But also can you guys do a quick run through of what farms you guys primarily are using to source the produce for your flavor?

AB  30:32  
Yes, I can. I can mention a few and then if I forget any buster, so lmd grows is a big one. We're getting all of our organic jackfruit from them. They do a great job and my favorite kombucha flavor. Is Southwest Florida produce they're doing a lot of berries for us. They can see they do a bunch of stuff. We have another Miami one that's bnb panda dragon through she does share

BB  30:58  
Persian limes, but yes, I love was one of my favorites. Former families Pam Vic and her son Tommy.

AB  31:06  
Yeah, the hash farm is another big one they do. They do our tangerine beet phenols celery celery is a crazy kombucha flavor. And actually she is the inspiration for that when she said hey, why don't you sell her kombucha? And it's crazy, but it's a great it's a great flavor Cool Runnings farm near the majority of our ginger tumeric we get our winavi enough from them. Blue horizon farm that's a special one Buster dimension wars. She does all of well. Many of our herbs she does our cranberry hibiscus. Holy Basil has turned out to be one of our top herbs that we're using in a variety of different combinations. And to take a lot of pride in that. We've also got PNP tropical teas for lighting for us a lot of our passion for passion is a great pairing for kombucha. So

MT  32:02  
Ugh love passion fruit

AB  32:04  
Oh yeah, mango passion, Dragon passion playing passion, blueberry passion. And we've done we've done a lot with a passion for it. And you'll see that a lot also on a commercial level because the tartness and everything that the passion for it is is great

MT  32:19  
to know I'm gonna use it next week when when my brews done, I bought like a bunch of passion fruits. I'm really excited. Yeah.

AB  32:26  
Deborah from the garden garden network, another great supplier for us. And then I had mentioned earlier, the honey that we're using in the June that was like easy. Oh, love keys. Yeah, no. thing. Oh, and a new one flank farm. So Swank is a new pop up market that started when it's sold well for us. And this whole COVID thing started. And all of our markets shut down. We discovered that she was running a little thing up in loxahatchee, which is a whole nother agricultural area that I was not familiar with, because it's, you know, up in West Palm, and she, you know, gave us the idea to add lemon balm to Oregon. So we were doing lemon balm, you know, she supplied us with she grows rhubarb. So hopefully next year, when it's strawberry season, we can get some rhubarb and maybe

MT  33:18  
that sounds amazing.

AB  33:19  
Oh, and two other people, definitely to mention ombre coffee supply us with we do a coffee conversion. So we do a base of coffee. And they source their direct sourcing. So they know they're farmers as well. They're sourcing from in Brazil, Costa Rica. And she is a third generation Brazilian coffee farmer. And so they roast their coffee. And also on Jen's tea and spices. She gets us our blends of the things that we can't get locally, but she has a local blender. So he does our child blends and she also does our beer blend and have a fun one that is definitely different. And so she blends both of those for us. And not a farmer but she's our blender.

MT  34:10  
Okay, and okay, because I forgot to I forgot to ask you this again earlier, but um, what are the benefits? Like why should people drink kombucha? And what are the health benefits? There's a lot.

AB  34:24  
Yeah, it's I mean, most people will first identify it as a probiotic. No, you know, probate is is out there. It's everywhere. It's in every different form. This is a living average. And so to me, it's going to top any pill, potion powder, additives, anything that's alive. And that claims to be a probiotic is going to take the lead in that sense, but it must touch on a few of the elements.

BB  34:53  
Right so as a probiotic, it's considered a digestive aid in our culture, specifically in this country where we eat the majority of our foods cook, especially where I grew up in Minnesota, when you eat all of your foods cooked and all of your beverages are pasteurized, quite taxing on our digestive systems. So these foods and drinks and living foods and drinks, they are so important to our health, wellness, vitality, that just as digestive properties alone is a reason to drink gluten. That's how I started drinking just for its digestive benefits. And then I learned over time that it had additional benefits such as liver detoxifier, immunity booster and energy enhancer that kind of goes along with the idea of eating cooked foods. It's so taxing on our digestive systems and our digestive enzymes and our digestion drains our own personal batteries. And when you incorporate living foods and fermented foods that aid in digestion, you have a natural energy enhancing properties of other fermented foods and beverage

MT  36:09  
that's really interesting because I've I do drink it when I'm feeling sleepy and I want an energy boost and it does boost my energy and I never really knew why. So that's really interesting to know.

BB  36:20  
Yeah, most people identify that feeling after a Thanksgiving meal fargy and, you know, you're just exhausted. Yeah, and the traditional Thanksgiving meals is all cooked. Everything. Yeah, all of your pasteurized and that is quite taxing on the digest. I encourage my family now they do it annually to incorporate in bring and serve size condiments that are fermented culture, and kombucha obviously the Thanksgiving.

MT  36:53  
Oh, that's a great idea. My family would love that actually. Okay, and lastly, where can people find your kombucha? I know you are selling at farmer's markets. But now the farmers markets are closed. How can people get your kombucha?

AB  37:11  
Well they can get in on a quite a few web stores. Obviously we have a website it's counterculture dot Miami or drink lab culture calm. You can find us on several web stores that have popped up to farmers markets go calm. That's a big one. myeloma is a big one that everybody knows here in Miami. There's a few locations in Broward also in Boca there they have on tap Joanna's marketplace. here in Miami, you'll find out a lot of coffee shop, popular and vegan restaurants, juice bars. Thing is as crazy as dentist's office. offices. Wow. Yeah. And so you'll find it on top of different places, you'll find the bottles in different places. And as far as farmers markets on fortunately, we're only at one right now on Saturdays that's up at in loxahatchee is blank form. So typically, we're a direct people, several different farmers markets, the Delray market, the West home market, and also Pine Crest, and a couple other that we have people helping us out with, but we also do home delivery. So that's huge right now.

MT  38:18  
That's what I was gonna ask. Yeah,

AB  38:19  
yeah, it's huge. Right now. We're seeing a lot more people again, staying home again. But it's been a new part of our business that we're exploring and having to, you know, navigate but yeah, you can get it delivered to your home. Awesome.

MT  38:33  
Yeah, I will definitely be taking advantage of that. Because I'm sure. I mean, although I've been brewing my own. I'm sure it doesn't compare to your yours. But anyway, okay. buster, and Angie, thank you so, so much for your time. I loved every single second of that, but um, okay, thank you guys so much, and I'll talk to you soon.

AB  38:57  
Thank you so much for having us.

MT  38:58  
Of course. Okay. Have a good one, you guys.

BB  39:02  
Thank you. Bye bye.