Boochy Mama's Kombucha is a botanical kombucha brewed in Toledo, Ohio, by Stacy Jurich, who learned to brew in an eco-village in Hawaii and started the company in January 2015.
Each of its five flavors pairs a sencha or black tea base with a herbal blend, such as balsam fir and juniper in Woodland Bliss, and the brewery prints 1 gram of sugar per can.
Boochy Mama's is a botanical kombucha from Toledo, Ohio. Stacy Jurich learned to brew while living in an eco-village in Hawaii, kept brewing in her home kitchen when she came back to Toledo, and started the company in January 2015, delivering the first cans by bicycle, as the company tells it. Every flavor since has been built the same way: a tea base, then a blend of herbs and flowers. All of what follows comes from the brewery's own pages.
| Flavor | Tea base | Botanicals |
|---|---|---|
| Woodland Bliss | Vanilla tea, black tea, yerba mate | Wildharvested balsam fir, juniper |
| Meadow Spirit | Sencha, black tea | Spearmint, chamomile, sage, meadowsweet, lemon balm, yarrow |
| Sunlight Serenade | Sencha, black tea | Tulsi, lavender, lemon verbena |
| Fairytale | Sencha, black tea | Hibiscus, rose petals, peppermint |
| Temple of Gold | Sencha, black tea | Fresh and dried ginger, turmeric, lemongrass |
Every flavor is printed at 1 gram of sugar per can.
Flavors with a family tree
What stands out reading the lineup is how long each recipe has been worked on. Fairytale was one of the first flavors made in the home kitchen, back in 2012, and its herbs come from a tea blend her husband's family created for The Happy Badger, their boutique, concert venue and cafe. The brewery calls it a Good Food Award winner. Temple of Gold began as a flavor called 5 Alive, with ginger, turmeric, ginseng, ginkgo and lemon, went into stores in 2015 as Cold Fire, and settled into its current ginger, turmeric and lemongrass. Woodland Bliss is the child of two retired flavors, La Pachamama and Winterland Bliss, which is how balsam fir and juniper ended up in the same can as vanilla tea and yerba mate.
Meadow Spirit comes straight out of the garden. The brewery says it grows herbs for tea all summer, and that blend of spearmint, chamomile, sage, meadowsweet, lemon balm and yarrow became a kombucha because they liked it so much as a tea. In color terms, Fairytale's hibiscus and rose make the lineup's ruby, and Temple of Gold's turmeric its gold.
Raw, and kept cold
Boochy Mama's is unpasteurized, and its FAQ asks that it be kept refrigerated, out of direct sun and never heated. Cans carry a date eight months from canning. That fits the trade standard: the Code of Practice only allows the word raw on kombucha that has not been pasteurized or sterile filtered, and calls for raw product to be kept between 40 and 48 degrees Fahrenheit. The same FAQ puts its own kombucha at a pH of 3.3, inside the 2.3 to 3.8 range the Code gives for finished kombucha.
Small brewers often write flavor descriptions as feelings, and Boochy Mama's does too. The ingredient lists are the clearer guide. Read them and you can tell which tea each can is built on, and which herb is meant to lead.
Questions
Where is Boochy Mama's Kombucha made?
In Toledo, Ohio. Stacy Jurich began brewing in her home kitchen there and delivered the first cans by bicycle, according to the company's About page.
What tea does Boochy Mama's use?
Its ingredient lists name sencha and black tea for most flavors. Woodland Bliss uses vanilla tea, black tea and yerba mate.
How much sugar is in Boochy Mama's?
The brewery prints 1 gram of sugar per can on every flavor page and in its FAQ.
Does Boochy Mama's need to be refrigerated?
Yes. The FAQ says the kombucha is unpasteurized, so it should be kept cold, kept out of sun and never heated. Cans are dated eight months from canning.
