Sparkling success story: Mother Kombucha’s Agua Bucha

Tonya Donati

There is something seemingly magical about kombucha. It could be the sparkle, could be the fizz, could be the fact that you feel like you’re practicing real self care when you order it on tap. Whatever the magic, kombucha is here to stay and Tonya Donati, founder of Mother Kombucha, has taken her kombucha brand to the next level by opening a door into another magical world: the world of sparkling water. 

“People are crushing sparkling water all over the place,” Donati said in a phone interview. “And Agua Bucha is enhanced sparkling water.” 

Agua Bucha, Mother Kombucha’s newest innovation, landed on the shelves as a test product at Rollin’ Oats last May and has since been added to the Publix and Amazon inventory, with Whole Foods in the works. Agua Bucha is kombucha infused sparkling water, and while it may seem impossible to make the switch from say, La Croix to Agua Bucha, there are numerous health benefits to a drinking diet that includes kombucha. 

Kombucha is a fermented tea. When the yeast breaks down the sugars during the fermentation process, it produces minerals and vitamins that can aid in digestion, stimulate the immune system, suppress dangerous bacterias and combat stress. Kombucha is rich in antioxidants which take on all those scary free radicals that roam free in the body.  

Donati started drinking kombucha in 2012-2013 and said she loved the way it made her feel. She started brewing it from home and then sold it to the local juice shop, Squeeze. “There was no regional kombucha brand back then,” she said. “And Florida needed one.” 

Now Florida has a regional kombucha infused sparkling water as well. So far there are three flavors of Agua Bucha: key lime, meyer lemon and grapefruit. “It’s all naturally created,” Donati said. “And it is magic but also, science.”