The Kombucha Company Home Brewing Starter Kit with 5-Inch Large SCOBY, Starter Tea and Brewing Jar Review (2026)

What is in the kit

The Kombucha Company's kit pairs a large 5 inch SCOBY with 16 ounces of mature starter tea, a 1 gallon glass brewing jar and its cloth cover, an acid-range pH test strip and an adhesive temperature strip, along with step-by-step instructions. The manufacturer's own product page lists the 1 gallon glass jar as part of the kit, so buyers do not need to source a separate brewing vessel to get started, contrary to what the site's own listing implies about jar size being unclear; the brand states the jar size plainly on its product page, alongside the pH strips meant to confirm the brew has acidified enough to be safe to drink.

SCOBY size and starter tea

A 5 inch SCOBY is on the larger end for a home starter kit, and a bigger SCOBY generally means a faster, more reliable first fermentation, since more of the jar's surface area is covered by active culture from day one. The 16 ounces of starter tea that ships with it serves two purposes: it lowers the pH of the first batch quickly enough to protect against mold and contamination, and it carries the SCOBY safely through shipping, since a SCOBY packed dry or without any liquid is more likely to arrive stressed or damaged, taking longer to produce a normal-tasting batch once it is finally in the jar.

The included jar and cover

The 1 gallon glass jar is the standard size for a home kombucha batch, big enough to brew a useful amount of tea per cycle without being unwieldy to lift or pour. The cloth cover that ships with it is the traditional way to cover an active kombucha ferment, letting the batch breathe and exchange gas while keeping fruit flies and dust out, and it is a simple, no-cost item to keep on hand as a spare once you already know the jar's mouth size. A wide mouth on a gallon jar also makes it easier to lower the SCOBY in gently and to lift it back out between batches without tearing it.

What is not included

The kit does not include the tea, sugar or bottles needed for the second and later batches once the starter tea and included tea blend are used up, so a new brewer should plan to buy loose black or green tea, plain white sugar and some swing-top bottles for future rounds. This is standard for starter kits across the kombucha category and is not a shortfall specific to this kit, but it is worth budgeting for those ongoing supplies from the outset rather than assuming the box covers every future batch.

Who should buy it

This kit fits someone starting kombucha from scratch who wants a large, well-established SCOBY and a full-size gallon jar bundled together rather than sourced separately, which removes two of the more intimidating parts of getting started. It is a reasonable choice over buying a bare SCOBY alone if you do not already own a gallon jar and cloth cover, since sourcing food-safe glass in that size separately can cost nearly as much as the whole kit. Anyone who already has a jar and just needs a culture may prefer a SCOBY-only listing instead, since part of what this kit's price covers is the included glassware.

Frequently asked questions