Founder Interview: Fernando Silvestrin & Mat Owen, Founders of Kombru

Describe your product in one sentence and tell us about your brand.

We are Kombru, we make tasty drinks that are refreshingly non-evil. Our Kombucha is handcrafted in Hamburg using the traditional methods, and only ingredients that are certified organic. Currently, Kombru comes in two flavours, which are Lemon, Ginger & Joyful Bacteria and Fig, Lime & Friendly Bacteria. We also have two more flavours in the pipe-line. Kombru is made up of Fernando Silvestrin, Mat Owen and lots of happy bacteria.

What‘s your story and how did you get started?

It all started with Fernando breaking his arm. After surgery, he contracted a superbug from the hospital, which left him feeling seriously out-of-whack. Fernando was on the lookout for ways to bring his body back into balance and discovered kombucha. Then he told me (Mat) about it, but I wasn’t convinced. Then he mentioned it again. And again. And possibly another time. Then I tried it and quickly saw why he was so excited by his discovery. So, we bought some scobies and started brewing from home. Once we had a consistent base brew, we began to experiment with the flavour. We use cold-pressed bio fruit, as we want a big, natural flavour which we also make ourselves. Once we had some flavours pinned down, we took our bru to Eat n Style in Hamburg, which is a huge food festival. We got the public to try them and asked them to help us decide on which two flavours to launch with.

What‘s your current stage?

We are currently selling to several Edeka supermarkets throughout Hamburg and a few coffee shops. We also sponsor art events such as the Millerntor Gallery and the XH Collective with refreshing bru. We think that it’s important to immerse yourself in all types of good culture. We no longer brew from home and have converted a shop, that was a fake-eyelash salon, into the Kombru HQ boochery – where we make our all natural, non-evil bru.

What excites you most about Kombucha and its future?

The food we eat directly determines how healthy our gut is, and that has a direct relationship to our emotions and mood. Our modern, highly processed diet can have a detrimental effect on our gut microbiome and wellbeing. We want to make it super easy for people to restore their body’s natural balance of friendly gut bacteria and as a result live healthier and happier lives. So, our mission is to provide an alternative to sugary, synthetic, over-processed soda. Something that still tastes great, but is way more beneficial to your body.

What are your expectations in attending the Kombucha Summit?

We’re keen to meet fellow brewers from around Europe and swap tips with them. We’re also eager to learn more about how to scale things up and find out about the latest developments in production. We’re basically looking forward to having fun with like-minded people and combining that with our passion for kombucha. Auf dein wohl!

Thanks, Fernando & Mat! You keep reading — we keep posting more interviews from the exciting world of Kombucha!

For those of you interested in participating in October: You can purchase late-bird tickets until August 5 here and in case you have any questions, comments or suggestions, ping us any time at info@kombuchasummit.com or on Instagram.