Gillian Healy, kombucha producer

Gillian Healy, kombucha producer

The product we produce is kombucha. So, kombucha is an age-old fermentation process, originated in China. It’s been in America and Australia for years, but now in Ireland it’s new, and I think everyone is getting more interested in it because it’s very good for your gut. It gives you amazing bacteria that, like, 70 per cent of your serotonin is made in your gut, so it’s quite important to take care of that and replenish your gut with good bacteria, because it connects to your mental health as well. So, I think it’s a very important product to be using at the moment.

Anyway, aside from that, what we do is, our brand name is Gut Instinct. I’ll tell you about the fermentation process. So, today, on a usual Monday, I would go to the kitchen, and in the kitchen, I would start a “brew”. Every day is different, though, because some days, I might start a brew; other days, I might be on the infusion period; another day, I might be out doing deliveries. But on a usual Monday, if I take today, for instance, this is what I’d be doing and that would be just beginning a brew. And what I basically do is I add water, tea and sugars to our brewing tank and then I add the “scoby” as well — and the “scoby”, if you don’t know what that is, is a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast, and that’s, like, the most important part of kombucha because that’s what gives you kombucha. It breaks down all the sugars in the brewing vat and it releases really good bacteria into the drink itself, like lactobacillus and acetic acid as well, which are very important for your gut health.

Then, after I set that brew, which would be today, I would wait for maybe a week to 10 days and then I would drain that liquid and put it into the infusion period, which would be adding in the different flavours we have. At the moment, we have coffee, tea and rose and rhubarb. And in the infusion period, I would add the different flavours to each of our products and then put them to ferment again, because our product is double fermented, and I put them away to brew again for another maybe three to five days. Then I’d take them out and put them in our small bottles and then you have our product, which is the kombucha.