STORAGE
GUIDANCE
During spring and summer months it is important to store your kombucha properly to ensure you enjoy it at its best, and to avoid leakages and caps popping if left out of the fridge.
Always refrigerate China White, Ginger Sencha and Sparkling Komsecco on receipt until ready to use.
GO Kombucha is a holistic living tea that faithfully replicates an Ancient recipe. As such our kombucha requires special care when storing compared, say, to a canned “kombucha” variant that has been hyperprocessed and/or pasteurised for mass production and supermarket shelf stability.
Similarly, some raw brands brew the traditional way but remove the yeasts and force carbonate before bottling for ambient shelf stability. At GO Kombucha we’ve honed and finessed our brewing process over 20 years to ensure a stable balance of yeasts and bacteria and so can bypass the filtration, pasteurisation and force carbonation processes applied by our competitors so that our products - with the exceptions of Ginger Sencha and Sparkling Komsecco which must always be stored chilled - can generally be stored in a cool room <12C in their sealed card cases if adhering to the following guidance, which will avoid potential issues arising due to the live nature of our authentic, real kombucha:
750ml bottles
Sparkling Komsecco, now a year-round addition to our range, must be kept refrigerated below 5C to prevent CO2 build up and loss of tea on opening.
Refrigerate Green Sencha and Red-Pu-erh where possible to ensure no onward fermentation occurs and to maintains the alcohol at <0.5% (defined by law as non-alcoholic), which is the point at which it was bottled before being stored in a chilled facility before reaching you. If you do not mind the alcohol creeping into the low-alcoholic region (specified in UK law as being between 0.5-1.2% - still well below the level of intoxication for most people not sensitive to alcohol) - you can store bottles in their closed card cases upright in the coolest place available but never a heated room, and then chill before serving (the sealed cardboard box helps to insulate against external heat). Be prepared to ‘burp’ bottles to expel excess fizz on opening, which is generated due to not being kept chilled, which stabilises the yeats. We do not advise storing 750ml bottles sideways, but if positioning sideways in your fridge check after several minutes to ensure no leakage is occurring. Burp by slightly opening the cap and screwing back tight back and forth until the excess CO2 is expelled and the fizz settles down.
If the storage area is 12C> then over a couple of weeks a slight impairment in taste may develop due to onward fermentation occurring inside the bottle consuming the remaining sugars (ideal if you prefer a less sweet product). After a couple of months the taste may be more beery and possibly alcoholic which chilling alleviates, keeping the product stable beyond its best before date if unopened (once opened srew the cap back tight and the product will remain fresh for weeks). Also, outward CO2 pressure on the cap caused by the onward fermentation may cause the 750ml wine bottle neck sleeve cap to “jump” the seal - a safety feature that allows the seals to release and enable excess pressure to escape and prevents the glass bottle exploding - in which event the neck sleeve will need to be gripped firmly while the cap is twisted quickly to open.
In exceptional cases where the neck sleeve cap becomes stuck on the same groove, carefully cut the neck sleeve away from the bottle by inserting a knife under the metal and unpeel, like an orange, taking care not to cut yourself on the metal, and be sure to ‘burp’ slowly over a sink as the contents are likely to be extremely fizzy. When loosened, remove nexk sleeze and cap and dispose of carefully. Serve chilled for the most refreshing and thirst-quenching taste experience.
250ml bottles
China White and Ginger Sencha require chilling at all times, so ensure you have room in your fridge before placing your order, and ‘burp’ slowly on opening to release excess fizz!
Refrigerate Yunnan Gold and Darjeeling Black to ensure no onward fermentation occurs and to maintain the alcohol at <0.5% (defined by law as non-alcoholic); the point at which it was bottled, then chilled before reaching you. If you don’t mind the alcohol creeping into the low-alcoholic region (specified in UK law as being between 0.5-1.2% - still well below the level of intoxication for most people not sensitive to alcohol), you can store bottles upright in their closed card cases in the coolest place available during warmer months <12C and chill before serving (the closed cardboard box helps to insulate against external heat).
If storing out of the fridge in variable temperatures or contantly over 12C> then over time some impairment in taste may occur and outward CO2 pressure may cause the 250ml cap to expand, break its seal and, eventually, “pop”. We recommend checking the cap seals every few days for any sign of bulging outward (they should otherwise be flat) - always hold the cap end of the bottle away from you - and either break the cap seal on each bottle by slightly opening to emit excess CO2 and to release some of the outward pressure and screw back tight, or refrigerate immediately if space allows. In the heat of mid-summer the small bottles should be refrigerated to avoid becoming too active and their caps ‘popping’..
We recommend chilling before consuming for the most refreshing and thirst-quenching experience. Always open each bottle pointing away from your body by “burping”; i.e. opening slightly to check the level of fizz, and if necessary abruptly close before any wild fizz that may have built up escapes the bottle. Repeat this process several times until all excess CO2 build-up has escaped and the fizz has subsided.
GO Kombucha is 100% raw and live so thank you for appreciating why it has to be treated with such care. Following this guidance will ensure that our uniquely authentic kombucha that honours the heritage and legacy of a tradition that began in Ancient China over 2200 years ago will, in turn, take care of you!
For some frequently asked questions, click here
Any questions: Please email sales@gokomucha.co.uk