Eagle Cap Kombucha

Esther Petrocine, founder of Eagle Cap Kombucha, began creating this probiotic-rich beverage in her home kitchen in 2011. Working with the living culture brought a richness to her belly and her life. A passion to share this delicious and uplifting beverage with her community led her to begin a small-scale commercial production in 2019. 

ECK has light carbonation: "Kombucha contains some inherent, yet light, carbonation as oxygen is consumed in the process of fermentation. It bubbles up quite a bit when I am kegging it. Once the product is in the keg, I seal the keg shut with 25-30lbs of CO2 pressure. I only expose the product to that much pressure for a couple of minutes, as opposed to "brightening" it for many hours, or rocking it to infuse more gas. The choice stems from knowing that carbonation creates an acidic environment in the gut that is unnatural and can cause issues for some people. The unique conflict with kombucha is that it is intended to support gut health, so adding CO2, in theory, lessens the benefits. Since part of my mission is to support an internal environment of well being, and not just a tasty beverage, I keep the carbonation light. However, the keg is also connected to CO2 at 10-12lbs of pressure all of the time once it is connected to pour. It is enough pressure to push the product out and add a little bit of bubbly to the beverage. The longer it sits, the more that 10-12lbs of pressure is infusing the liquid with carbonation. So, long answer to say that the first pours are less carbonated than the last pours. I have yet to find a way around this situation and have tried to find a good balance of bubbly and good gut vibes, but I know it doesn't meet everyone's preference. 

"Once the kombucha is in a growler, it will lose carbonation just due to the lid being taken off. The larger the vessel (i.e. 64oz growler vs. 32 oz growler) the more flat the last several pours will be. Keeping the lid screwed on tightly helps preserve the carbonation."