How Kerala’s Kumbayah Kombucha Is Making Authentic Fermented Tea for India
In India’s fast-growing functional beverage market, kombucha has quietly appeared on café menus, quick-commerce platforms and premium retail shelves. Yet according to Arvind Mohan, founder of Kerala-based Kumbayah Kombucha, much of what is sold under that name is not true kombucha.
“Most people believe they’ve already had kombucha,” he says. “But what many have tried is a sweet, fizzy drink that resembles kombucha. Real kombucha is a living, fermented beverage. It’s not just a flavour profile.”
Kumbayah was formally founded in 2021, though its origins stretch back several years to a home kitchen. Today the brand sells more than 1.5 million bottles a year across South India and is available throughout Kerala as well as in Madurai, Coimbatore, Chennai, Pondicherry, Bengaluru and Hyderabad.
Brewing the Old-Fashioned Way
Traditional kombucha is made by fermenting tea and sugar with a live culture known as a SCOBY—Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast. The process creates natural carbonation, complex flavours and beneficial bacteria that support gut health.
At Kumbayah, the process is deliberately slow. “We brew our kombucha for 20 to 30 days,” Arvind explains. “We start with freshly brewed tea, add cane sugar and a live culture, and allow it to ferment slowly. We don’t pasteurise it, and we don’t add artificial carbonation. The fizz you taste comes entirely from fermentation.”
That distinction matters. Pasteurisation extends shelf life but kills the live cultures. “Once kombucha is pasteurised, it’s no longer probiotic. It may still be a low-sugar soda alternative, but it’s not living kombucha. The difference isn’t ideological—it’s biological.”
From Classical Music to Fermentation
Arvind’s path into beverages was unconventional. Trained as a Hindustani classical musician, he spent years performing and teaching before turning to fermentation. Around 2015, while dealing with digestive issues, he began brewing kombucha at home in search of something natural that actually worked.
“It was just for me at first. But friends started asking for bottles. What stood out was that they didn’t drink it because it sounded healthy. They drank it because it tasted good and made them feel lighter.”
His co-founder, Ashvini Birghoffer, a French national with a strong culinary background who also trained in Indian classical music, met Arvind at a music academy in Bhopal. The two bonded over music, flavour and fermentation long before the brand existed.
“Ashvini brought structure to what I was doing intuitively,” Arvind says. “She built fermentation schedules, SOPs and quality systems that allow the drink to remain alive while staying consistent as we scale.”
He often draws parallels between music and brewing. “Music taught me patience long before kombucha did. You can’t rush a raga. You sit with it, listen to it, and let it unfold. Fermentation works the same way. If you try to force it, you lose what makes it alive.”
Scaling Without Affecting the Culture
India’s kombucha market reached an estimated $100.8 million in revenue in 2024 and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 16–20%, faster than the global average, potentially reaching $439–460 million by 2033. Atmosphere Studio is among the competitors Kumbayah tracks.
What began with an initial investment of about ₹30,000 has expanded dramatically, with the company reporting close to 2,000% year-on-year growth driven largely by southern markets. The brand is stocked in neighbourhood cafés, traditional Kerala restaurants, premium retail outlets, hotels and on platforms such as Swiggy Instamart. It has also reached fine-dining venues including Yuki.
“Our positioning is simple—premium in process, accessible in pricing,” Arvind says. Starting at ₹125 for a 275 ml bottle, the drink is intended as an everyday option rather than an occasional treat. The same product is designed to feel at home in a small café or on a fine-dining table.
Strong in Kerala and Karnataka, Kumbayah is deepening its presence in Hyderabad and has set its sights on Mumbai and Delhi in early 2027. The company is already profitable and is not actively raising capital. “We’re choosing to grow at a pace our product and supply chain can genuinely support,” Arvind says. The goal is to build a ₹100 crore brand by 2028 without compromising fermentation, flavour or accessibility.
Revenue stood at ₹15 crore in FY25, with a projection of ₹25 crore for FY26.
Flavour First, Health as a Consequence
In a category often marketed as a health obligation, Kumbayah has taken a different route. “No one builds a real habit around something that feels like medicine,” Arvind says. “We didn’t want Kumbayah to be something people force into their routine.”
Taste comes first. “If the drink isn’t refreshing and genuinely enjoyable, nothing else matters. The probiotic benefits come naturally when someone drinks real, well-fermented kombucha regularly. You don’t have to sell it too hard; people feel the difference.”
The extended 20-to-30-day fermentation is central to that philosophy. “Real probiotics come from time. If you cut fermentation short, you’re essentially making a flavoured soda that looks like kombucha but doesn’t behave like one. Instead of changing the product to suit systems built for scale, we’ve built systems that respect the product.”
For kombucha to become mainstream in India, Arvind believes it must leave the wellness aisle. “Kombucha needs to step out of the health shelf and into everyday food culture. It belongs on menus, alongside coffee and alcohol alternatives.”
Cafés and restaurants, he argues, are the most effective places for that shift. When people encounter the drink paired with food or as part of a social moment, it stops feeling intimidating and becomes a preference. The move from obligation to enjoyment, he says, is what will turn kombucha into an everyday beverage—with health remaining a quiet advantage rather than the headline.
By insisting on long fermentation, live cultures and flavour that stands on its own, Kumbayah is attempting to define what “real” kombucha means in the Indian market—one carefully brewed bottle at a time.