Before I started working in the beverage industry, I had never heard of kombucha and I’m willing to bet the same held true for other baby boomers outside of the industry. Yet, myself and millennials, in particular, are flocking to kombucha teas for their Asian-inspired health-and-wellness attributes and functionality.
In fact, in Beverage Marketing Corporation’s (BMC) infographic of the shifting beverage landscape, kombucha sits near the top of high-growth, high-value beverages for the 2012-2017 time period, surpassing coconut water, hard cider and almond milk. BMC’s March report, “Beverages 2018: What’s in Store,” notes that bottled water is No. 1 in sales, by volume, with 4,498 million gallons and a 4.5 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR), while ready-to-drink teas ranked No. 2 with a CAGR of 3.6 percent and 514 million gallons.