Gut Feeling: After Three Years of Selling Everyone Else's Kombucha, We Made Our Own
Kevin GillespieRight, this is a big one.
After three years of selling everyone else's kombucha, we have finally made our own.
Gut Feeling is our first-ever house kombucha range from Functional Drinks Club. Four flavours, all fermented in small batches, all live, unpasteurised and unfiltered. They are made for the people who have been coming into the shop asking the same question for years:
“Which one would you drink yourself?”
Now I can point at the shelf and say, “Those ones.”
The first batch goes on sale in October, with pre-orders shipping from mid-October. It is strictly limited, so once this run is gone, it is gone until the next one.
Shop the Gut Feeling kombucha range
Why make our own?
For three years, we have tasted, tested and stocked kombucha from independent makers across the UK. We have tried the brilliant stuff, the strange stuff, the stuff that tastes like a garden centre and the stuff that makes you wonder why nobody has put it in a wine bottle.
That experience taught us a few things.
Firstly, kombucha needs to taste like something. Fermentation is important, but it is not an excuse for a drink to be thin, sweet or forgettable.
Secondly, functional ingredients need to have a reason for being there. We are not interested in throwing trendy words onto a label and hoping nobody asks questions.
Thirdly, bottle size matters. Most kombucha comes in 330ml bottles. That is fine for a quick drink, but we wanted something that could sit in your fridge and become part of your routine.
So every bottle of Gut Feeling is 500ml. At around 150ml a day, one bottle lasts roughly three days. That makes more sense if you are interested in gut health optimisation and want something you can actually use regularly, rather than a tiny bottle you finish before you have properly sat down.
It also makes the range work as a proper evening drink. Pour it into a decent glass with dinner and it gives you a grown-up ritual without the alcohol, the poor sleep or the empty bottle judging you from the recycling.
Four flavours, four different jobs
Mane Event, Lion's Mane kombucha
Mane Event is the one for people who want to feel a bit sharper and steadier.
It is made with filtered water, cane sugar, tea mix, kombucha cultures and Lion's Mane extract. Each 500ml bottle contains 5ml of a 10:1 extract, equivalent to roughly 5,000mg, or 5 grams, of raw Lion's Mane material.
Lion's Mane research is still early and mixed. Some studies suggest possible links with cognitive function, but that is not the same as proving that this drink will make you more focused, productive or capable of replying to emails before lunch.
It is simply a fermented tea drink with Lion's Mane in it, made for people who like the ingredient and want to try it in something more enjoyable than a powder or capsule.
Anyone with a mushroom allergy should avoid Mane Event.
Zero Drama, Ashwagandha kombucha
Zero Drama is the evening one.
Instead of the usual fruit, ginger or citrus, it is made with Ashwagandha extract. The ingredients are filtered water, cane sugar, tea mix, kombucha cultures and Ashwagandha extract. Again, that is 5ml of a 10:1 extract per bottle, equivalent to roughly 5,000mg of raw material.
The research around Ashwagandha and stress or sleep is still developing, with results varying between studies. I am not going to tell you one bottle of kombucha will sort out your stress. It will not. If it did, I would be selling it in larger bottles and living somewhere warmer.
What it is, is a proper evening drink that is not a beer or a glass of wine. That is useful enough.
One important note. If you take thyroid medication, check with your doctor before drinking Zero Drama regularly. Ashwagandha can interact with thyroid function, so this is not something to guess your way through. It is also not suitable for anyone who is pregnant or breastfeeding.
Zest Intentions, Black Orange kombucha
Zest Intentions is the boldest bottle in the range, and my personal favourite.
It is fermented on strong, malty Assam black tea with black orange, specifically Moro blood orange. The result is a deep, almost wine-like crimson colour, which comes from anthocyanins, the same antioxidant compounds found in berries, with a proper citrus edge and enough backbone to stop it tasting like orange squash with bubbles.
It is also the citrus bottle for people who find regular orange kombucha a bit one-note.
The ingredients are filtered water, cane sugar, Assam black tea, kombucha cultures and black orange juice. Nothing artificial.
This is the one I would pour when I want something with a bit of presence. It works with food, holds its own in a wine glass and has enough depth to keep you interested past the first sip.
Root Cause, Ginger kombucha
Root Cause is for people who think kombucha should actually taste of something.
It is fermented on a black tea blend with a generous hit of fresh root ginger. Not a whisper of ginger. Not a vague suggestion that ginger may once have been in the same building. Proper ginger juice, with real heat.
The ingredients are filtered water, cane sugar, tea mix, kombucha cultures and ginger juice. No extract, no flavouring and no messing about.
This is the one I would reach for on a Friday night. It is sharp, warming and lively enough to work as an alternative to a bottle of wine with dinner.
Nutrition, the same across all four bottles
The nutrition is the same across all four Gut Feeling flavours. Per 100ml and per 500ml bottle, the values are:
| Nutrition | Per 100ml | Per 500ml |
|---|---|---|
| Energy | 70kJ / 17kcal | 350kJ / 84kcal |
| Fat | 0g | 0g |
| of which saturates | 0g | 0g |
| Carbohydrate | 4.2g | 21.0g |
| of which sugars | 4.2g | 21.0g |
| Protein | 0g | 0g |
| Salt | less than 0.01g | less than 0.05g |
The proper stuff
Gut Feeling is unpasteurised, live and unfiltered.
That means the bottles can be cloudy, and you may see some murky bits at the bottom. That is fermentation doing its job, not a fault with the drink. Give the bottle a gentle turn, pour it cold and get on with your day.
The range is short dated on purpose because we have not pasteurised it to make it shelf-stable for months on end. Keep it refrigerated and serve ice cold.
Every flavour is suitable for vegans and contains no more than 0.5% ABV, the same as every raw kombucha we stock. It is not a medicine, supplement or guaranteed route to better health. It does not diagnose, treat, cure or prevent anything.
It is a fermented tea drink, not a medicine. Drink it because it tastes good, and consider the wider picture too. A decent diet, enough fibre, sleep and moving your body will always do more heavy lifting than a clever label.
Where this fits in the bigger picture
If you have spent any time around gut health, you have probably heard people talk about the "4 Ks", kombucha, kimchi, kefir and kraut. The basic idea is simple enough. Different fermented foods and drinks can have a place in a normal diet, and kombucha is one part of that picture, not the whole thing.
It also ties into the idea of moving the safety net upstream. In plain English, that just means doing the boring useful stuff before anything goes wrong, rather than waiting for a problem and then scrambling. Eating well, getting enough fibre, sleeping properly and having a few decent fermented foods or drinks in the mix is a far more sensible approach than looking for a miracle fix later.
That is how we see Gut Feeling. Not as a cure-all, not as a shortcut, just as one decent thing you can keep in the fridge and actually drink.
The best way to try the range
Singles start from ÂŁ7.00, and six packs are available if you already know your favourite.
If you want to try everything, the Gut Feeling Mixed Six Pack is the place to start. It contains six 500ml bottles across all four flavours and costs ÂŁ38.
That is the box I would give to someone who has never tried my kombucha before. Open them in the fridge, work through the flavours and find the one you actually like. Then buy more of that one. No need to pretend you love every flavour just because the box came together.
Pre-orders are live now, and the first batch ships from mid-October. It is a limited first run, so there will not be an endless supply sitting in a warehouse somewhere.
Pre-order Gut Feeling kombucha
Made for the Club
Gut Feeling sits alongside more than 40 raw kombucha varieties from independent UK makers in our Otley shop, home of the Kombucha Tap Room and what we believe is the largest kombucha range in the UK.
You can come in, try something on tap, ask a question or have a chat about which bottle might suit you. Or you can order through our wider kombucha range and get kombucha delivery UK-wide.
The point of Gut Feeling is not to replace the brilliant makers we already stock. They are the reason we know what good kombucha can be. This is our version, made our way, with the flavours we wanted to drink and the standards we have been banging on about since we opened.
Three years of tasting other people's ferments has finally led to this.
Exclusive to Functional Drinks Club Ltd, 7 Manor Sq, Otley, LS21 3AP, home of the Kombucha Tap Room.
If you want in on the first run, now is the time. Pre-order the full Gut Feeling range here, before the first batch lands and the early bottles are gone.
