Today we’d like to introduce you to Elliot Pees.
Hi Elliot, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Beginning in 2009 I began learning about this unique beverage called “Kombucha” and over the course of the next year I brewed dozens of batches tweaking the ingredients and process. Fermentation was new to me and kombucha being a drink that is fermented for the benefit of gut health while also being a tasty beverage was amazing to me. By 2010 I was bottling and selling to the Community Mercantile in Lawrence as well as the Lawrence Farmers Market by the name KANbucha (a combination of the two words Kansas and kombucha). Since then have expanded to many locations, serving styles, and have shown many in the area the unique experience KANbucha brings. We pride our business on quality ingredients and good relationships. We use organic tea from local KC supplier Hugo Tea Co. who has provided us with some of the best tea available that comes from family farms, and our recipe uses plenty of this tea to provide a full bodied flavor and substrate for our kombucha cultures. We have direct contact with all our customers and retailers through our local farmers market and small network of retailers who we know by name. We have seen customers take the challenge of trying an odd drink and come back to us over and over as bona fide “kombucha drinkers” who like our flavors and who care about their health. Today, we are brewing more volume than ever before and work hard to keep our product flowing!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The major obstacle of brewing, packaging, and selling kombucha is also why it is an amazing food! After the fermentation process, the kombucha is full of probiotic bacteria, living beneficial organisms that are already in our body helping all of the processes our bodies undertake on a daily basis. We are literally taking care of billions of helpers from their growth to their consumption and so certain conditions must be met! Providing a good food source, ensuring proper culturing environment, all the packaging to keep them safe, and distributing these microbes to outlets that get them to all the people who could enjoy and benefit from it. It all adds up as major effort, and we accept no shortcuts! We have chosen to keep our kombucha local so that we don’t have to sacrifice any of these elements, which would be necessary to sell it nationally. Its a better product for this reason.
As you know, we’re big fans of KANbucha. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
KANbucha is a kombucha brewing company based in Lawrence, KS.
We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
Our kombucha is in high demand because it is a well made product, and that is how we define our success; if we ferment, flavor, and distribute our kombucha as it should be done (with quality) will our customers want it? The answer is yes.
Pricing:
- $3.50-$4.00
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.kanbucha.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kanbucha/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KANbucha/
