Kombucha SCOBY: your questions on ordering, delivery and arrival

If you love tea and like a drink with depth, the kombucha SCOBY. If you also want something fruity and ready the next day, the kombucha and water kefir duo. To try everything or give a generous present, the complete kit. Compare the range.

Kombucha is sweet tea turned tangy and sparkling by a SCOBY, ready in a good week. Water kefir is a fruity, lightly fizzy drink made from sugared water, ready the next day. Milk kefir is creamy and gently tangy, made from milk. They are three different cultures and cannot replace one another.

Yes, people use both names for the same living culture that turns sweet tea into kombucha.

Yes. Three simple steps and a guide written for beginners. Most of our customers start with no experience at all. How it works.

The current cost is shown on the product page at natural-probio.com, our official shop. Once your SCOBY is going, each jar of kombucha needs little more than tea and sugar.

Visa, Mastercard, American Express, PayPal, Apple Pay and Google Pay, over an encrypted connection. Your card details never pass through our servers.

Yes, as long as it has not been dispatched. Email us as soon as possible after ordering. If the parcel has already left, we will find a solution together.

Yes, to the whole of the UK. The options for your address are shown at checkout. UK delivery and guarantee.

Orders leave within 24 to 48 working hours. For the UK, the estimated delivery time for your address is shown at checkout, before you pay.

The delivery cost for your address is calculated and shown at checkout, before payment, along with any faster options available.

As soon as your order leaves, you receive an email with your tracking number. It is also in your customer account and on the shop's order-tracking page.

Check the tracking first, then email hello@natural-probio.com. If the parcel is stuck, we open an investigation with the carrier and send you a new one.

Carriers sometimes log a delivery slightly before it happens; the parcel can follow within one to three days. Still nothing after that? Email us: we investigate and send your order again if needed.

Yes. It travels alive in its own liquid, in a sealed pouch and protective packaging. Its arrival is guaranteed: if it does not get going, we replace it at no cost or refund you.

No problem. A SCOBY is a robust culture from time-honoured methods and handles a few extra days in the post very well. Either way, the guarantee covers its arrival.

We send SCOBYs all year round. Open the parcel when it arrives and start your first jar promptly. If it does not get going, the guarantee applies.

Yes, and it is a good sign: the live culture keeps working on the way and releases a little gas. Open it and follow the leaflet as usual.

One single ingredient: a live kombucha SCOBY in its starter liquid, in a sealed pouch, with no additives. Your order also includes the quick-start leaflet, the guide and a booklet whose QR code opens our recipe library. Everything you receive.

Open the parcel, check the contents and start your first jar following the leaflet, ideally the same day. If in doubt, a photo by email is enough.

It is best to start straight away. If you cannot, put the pouch in the fridge: it waits there for a few days without any problem.

Yes. Brown strands and spots are a normal part of a live SCOBY and often hang from its underside. Colour and thickness also vary from one SCOBY to another. If you are in any doubt, send the team a photo and we will reassure you quickly.

Yes. After a few days in the post, a live culture can take a little time to settle in. The SCOBY finds its rhythm within two or three brews. If it does not, email us: the guarantee applies.

No. A large glass jar, a sieve, a cloth and some swing-top bottles are enough, and most kitchens already have them.

Email a photo of the parcel and its contents to hello@natural-probio.com. We send whatever is missing or damaged straight away, with no return needed on your side.

Yes, with a lifetime guarantee on its activity: if your SCOBY, used and kept in normal conditions, stays inactive, we replace it at no cost. A photo and a short description to hello@natural-probio.com are enough.

Natural Probio offers satisfaction or your money back. A faulty, damaged or non-conforming product is replaced or refunded at our expense.

By email at hello@natural-probio.com: write in English and a real person replies within 24 working hours, usually the same day.

Yes, for as long as you need. Send a photo of your jar and a few words, and we will tell you whether all is well and what to do if not.

We are rated 4.8 out of 5 on Trustpilot, and every order comes with a lifetime activity guarantee and your money back if you are not satisfied. Read their reviews.

Like sparkling tea with a pleasant tang, somewhere between a dry cider and a sharp lemonade, and you flavour it to your liking. Our flavour ideas.

Yes, some, because it is made from tea.

It is made from tea, sugar, water and the culture: it contains no milk and no animal ingredients.

Traces, generally under 0.5%, like any homemade fermented drink.

Kombucha is a homemade fermented drink that contains traces of alcohol and some caffeine. For a child, ask your doctor's advice.

A few days in the fridge, in a closed bottle. The guide gives you the pointers for serving it at its best.