How big business developed a thirst for kombucha

Kombucha sales are soaring and business is booming for boutique producers.

"It's kind of gone off over the last couple of years," says Emmet Condon.

He founded Remedy Kombucha with his wife Sarah and has seen interest in the fizzy fermented drink grow as kombucha develops into booming industry in Australia with an estimated value of $200 million.

Cultured beginnings

The Condons started Remedy seven years ago making kombucha from a culture that has been in Australia for 45 years.

The tart and slightly bitter drink is carbonated like beer and is made from slightly sweetened tea which feeds a fermented substance known as a scoby, creating a cocktail of live microorganisms.

"It was brought to Australia by a couple of German backpackers who flew it in to Australia probably in the days before all the controls that were in immigration," Condon says. Read more