Infographic: OK, so what the heck is kombucha?

Not everything we explain is corporate strategy — sometimes it’s just weird fizzy tea.

But the approach is the same: Take something confusing, unfamiliar, or misunderstood, and make it clear, engaging, and a little delightful. This kombucha infographic started as a fun way to demystify a misunderstood drink, but it’s also a reminder that good visual storytelling can make almost anything more approachable and understandable — even a floating SCOBY.

SCOBY? Yeah, a scoby. It’s a Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast — a living culture essential for kombucha fermentation. Rubbery and pancake-shaped, the SCOBY transforms sweet tea into kombucha by fermenting the sugar.

An eyebrow raises skeptically… “What. Are. You. Drinking?”

Kombucha! It’s fizzy and a bit sour, but I find it very tasty. I don’t know why it gets such a bad and mysterious rap.

I mean, it does have stuff floating in it. But hey, that’s part of the natural brewing process. Actually, Kombucha is brewed in the same manner in which vinegar is made–and if we didn’t distill the shit out of that, you’d see a bunch floating stuff in there, too. Ever see Bragg organic apple cider vinegar? It’s bottled “With the Mother,” y’all! Naturally.

If you brew this stuff at home you’ll agree that its infamous floating mass (SCOBY) is totally weird and completely capable of freaking people out. It just doesn’t seem like a good idea to be touching the thing, let alone drinking the stuff it’s floating in.

But I do. Constantly. And the reasons are captured on this infographic that, in actuality, I made for a colleague who has more than once commented on this weird beverage often seen in our office refrigerator. So, Scott, now you know more than you used to about kombucha. And I (still) don’t care if you like it or not.

And here’s a PDF poster of the kombucha infographic.

Cheers!