The 2nd Annual KBI EU Committee Meeting was a resounding success!

The meeting attracted more than 40 attendees representing a total of 22 European breweries from 8 different countries. It also inspired a total of 16 new members – 14 brands and 2 affiliates.

On Thursday, president Hannah Crum hosted “Paella con la Presidente” and met with several KBI and non KBI Kombucha brands while enjoying the literal fruits of the sea and one of Spain’s most famous dishes. Friday night Flax and Kale hosted KBI members for a delicious meal and a tour of their onsite “Kombucha laboratory.” Then on Saturday, everyone gathered at Kashaya Kombucha’s newly opened brewery for the 2nd annual meeting program.

During the meeting, several vital topics were covered including the new Standard of Identity (SoI) for Kombucha being developed by KBI members and the Board which led to a lively discussion. Additionally, ways to establish the SoI in the EU were also explored as presented by Laurent Coullumbe-Labarthe (Karma, France), former head of KBI EU as well as Mireia Mas Gilbert (Kombucha la Valiente, Spain) one of the hosts and organizers of the KBI EU meeting. HubDiagnostics presented on their Kombucha testing portal they hope to launch later this year.

At the request of several members, we arranged a tour of a local beer brewery, Edge Brewery, being run by Americans in Barcelona. Thanks to a sponsor donation from Good Culture, KBI was able to subsidize half of the cost of the tour. The tour provided some insight into how larger types of equipment from the beer industry may potentially be used for Kombucha brewing, plus we all enjoyed some tasty brews and delicious fare.

Upon return to Kashaya, there were additional presentations; one from Mannanova and the other from Hanna Instruments on different types of testing equipment. Hanna Instruments gave away one of their testers and Nicolas Lavalliere (LOV Kombucha, Spain) was the winner! 

KBI EU Committee Secretary, Kendra Sepulveda Littles (Bliss Kombucha, Spain) provided a report from Veritas, a local organic market, regarding local Kombucha sales. Saturday night, we ventured out to Bailus Bar where we ordered Kombucha Kocktails which included spirits brewed onsite.

Sunday, a smaller group of KBI members traveled to  Tarragona, about an hour from Barcelona, to visit Kombucha la Valiente’s facility. Mireia and Javier were wonderful hosts and Krister Hall (The Good Guys Kombucha, Finland) provided a lesson in tea as that is his field of expertise and what inspired him to start brewing Kombucha.

We left Barcelona with so many great memories and thankfulness to everyone who attended the seminars, tours and delicious dinners. We’d like to offer our sincerest gratitude to all of the KBI members who went above and beyond donating their time and effort to make this a successful event

• Kendra Littles (Bliss Kombucha, Spain)
• Fern & Christopher (Kashaya Kombucha, Spain)
• Mireia & Javier (Kombucha la Valiente, Spain)
• Jesus Zamorano (Soul K, Spain)

Notes and the presentations from the meeting can be found HERE in the Member Forum.

We invite every KBI member from the EU to join us on our monthly European Committee meeting calls: 1st Wednesday of every month at 17:30 CEST

We hope you all had a good time and will consider joining us at KombuchaKon in April 2019! You can find addition information about how to attend or become a sponsor -> https://kombuchabrewers.org/kombuchakon-2019/