Is synergy kombucha Vegan?

The Ingredient Breakdown

When determining if a fermented tea is truly vegan, we have to look beyond the obvious. Synergy Kombucha is generally regarded as a plant-based product, but there is one specific ingredient that requires a closer look for those adhering to a strict ethical vegan diet.

The primary ingredients include GT's Kombucha (a blend of tea cultures), elderberry juice, juniper berry, black tea, green tea, and kiwi juice. All of these are derived from plants and fungi, making them perfectly suitable for a vegan diet. The fermentation process itself is biological and does not involve animal products.

However, the ingredient cane sugar is the potential red flag. In the food industry, some cane sugar is processed using bone char—charred animal bones—to filter and bleach the sugar crystals to make them white. While the sugar in Synergy Kombucha is likely not bone-char filtered (as the product is often raw and unrefined), strict vegans often avoid conventional cane sugar as a precaution unless it is certified organic or explicitly labeled as 'unrefined'.

Nutritional Value

Synergy Kombucha is a low-calorie beverage, typically containing around 30 to 60 calories per serving depending on the specific flavor profile. It contains virtually no fat and offers a small amount of probiotics due to the fermentation process.

The main nutritional concern is the added sugar. While the sugar is the food source for the healthy bacteria (SCOBY), the final product still retains a significant amount. A single bottle can contain between 10g to 20g of sugar. While this fits within standard diet limits, it is something to monitor if you are watching your glycemic index or sugar intake strictly.