THESE PAGES:
The Kombuchery
is the new kid
on the block for
the Helensville
community.
“Rene and her kids, and my husband and my
kids, were at a playground and somehow they
got talking about kombucha,” says Liv. “Rene
mentioned she needed a new scoby, and my
husband said ‘Oh, you’d love my wife – here’s
her number, she’s got a scoby.’ So, Rene got in
touch, we swapped scobys and probably about
a year after that we became friends and decided
that we should probably be doing this full-time,
doing this commercially.”
After swapping scoby (for the uninitiated,
scoby is an acronym for ‘symbiotic colony
of bacteria and yeast’) Liv and Rene began
brewing out of a small family garage.
“It has been really exciting,” says Liv. “We’ve
always had kombucha at home and we thought
it would be cool to be able to find a really nice,
grown-up version when you’re out for lunch
or out at night, a substitute for a glass of wine.
Something healthy and non-alcoholic.”
Their first successful endeavour, Mama’s
Brew Shop, is a beautiful manifestation of this
bright idea. Two mothers joining forces to
create an organic wellness product that they’re
proud of, and a social entry point for many
burgeoning kombucha converts and non-
alcoholic drinkers. While describing each of
their delicately-infused brews – the punchier,
gruntier ‘Warrior’ and the delicately infused
and restorative ‘Love’ – both admit choosing
between the two is a tough choice, a bit like
picking a favourite child.
“It was important to us to concentrate on a
premium product for that night time space,”
says Rene. “I think it’s only just scratching the
surface here in New Zealand. Overseas, it’s
massive – there’s a massive trend and it’s only
just starting to filter its way through here.”
Liv and Rene call on a variety of natural
herbs and spices to flavour their Mama’s
Brew Shop kombucha, avoiding additives and
sweeteners such as stevia to achieve a desired
taste, instead employing a brewing process that
is one of patience and precision – as any craft
beer brewer will tell you.
“It’s a matter of tasting the kombucha at a
certain time, grabbing the phone and saying
‘Liv, get dressed, let’s do this, it’s on.’”
“Basically, kombucha is fermented tea,”
adds Liv. “So you just make up a big batch of
DISH 47