If you like kombucha’s fizz and tang, there’s a whole family of fermented drinks to try: some dairy-free, some caffeine-free, some ready in two days. Below is how the seven best-known alternatives compare, what’s actually in them, and a short method for each. At the end are three drinks often sold as “probiotic” that aren’t quite what they seem.
Kombucha Alternatives at a Glance
| Drink | Made from | Culture | Caffeine | Home time | Difficulty |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kombucha (for comparison) | Sweet tea | SCOBY | Yes | 1–2 weeks | Moderate |
| Water kefir | Sugar water, fruit | Water kefir grains | No | 1–2 days | Easy |
| Jun | Green tea, honey | Jun SCOBY | Yes | About 1 week | Moderate |
| Tepache | Pineapple peel, piloncillo | Wild (from the fruit) | No | 2–3 days | Easy |
| Ginger beer | Ginger, sugar, lemon | Ginger bug | No | 1 week for the bug, then 2–3 days | Easy–moderate |
| Bread kvass | Rye bread | Yeast and lactic acid bacteria | No | 1–2 days | Moderate |
| Beet kvass | Beets, salt water | Wild lactic acid bacteria | No | 3–7 days | Easy |
| Milk kefir | Milk | Kefir grains | No | About 24 hours | Easy |
All of these contain some alcohol, because yeasts are part of the fermentation – usually a small amount, more the longer they ferment or sit sealed in a bottle. Only milk kefir contains dairy.
1. Water Kefir: the Closest Swap
Water kefir is the most kombucha-like: light, fruity and fizzy, with no tea and no caffeine. It’s made with water kefir grains – translucent clumps of bacteria and yeast (also called tibicos) – fed with sugar water. In a 2025 study of grains from four countries, the finished drinks were dominated by Liquorilactobacillus bacteria and the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, even though the grains themselves varied a lot (Garmendia et al., 2025).
Method: dissolve ¼ cup (50 g) sugar in 1 litre (4 cups) of dechlorinated water, add ¼ cup of water kefir grains, cover with a cloth and leave 24–48 hours at room temperature. Strain out the grains (they go into the next batch), then flavor with fruit or juice and bottle for a day to build fizz.
More: our water kefir guide, water kefir soda flavors and kombucha vs water kefir.
2. Jun: Kombucha’s Honey Cousin
Jun is brewed like kombucha but with green tea and honey instead of black tea and sugar. It’s lighter and more floral. Its origins are unclear – claims of an ancient Tibetan tradition are hard to trace – and there’s very little published research on its microbes. It needs its own jun culture; a kombucha SCOBY moved to honey often struggles.
Method: steep green tea in hot (not boiling) water, stir in honey once it has cooled to warm, cool completely, add the jun culture and a cup of starter liquid, cover with a cloth and ferment for about a week, tasting from day 4.
Like kombucha, jun contains caffeine.
3. Tepache: Mexico’s Pineapple Drink
Tepache is made from pineapple peel and core, piloncillo (unrefined cane sugar) and spices like cinnamon and cloves, fermented by the yeasts and bacteria already on the fruit. It tastes like spiced, lightly sour pineapple soda. In one study, after 72 hours tepache contained Lactobacillus, Leuconostoc, Acetobacter and several yeasts, with about 3.4 g/L of alcohol – roughly 0.4% – rising the longer it ferments (Gutiérrez-Sarmiento et al., 2022).
Method: put the peel and core of 1 pineapple, about 200 g of piloncillo or brown sugar, a cinnamon stick and a few cloves in a large jar with 2 litres of water. Cover with a cloth and leave 2–3 days, skimming any foam. When it’s fizzy and pleasantly tart, strain and refrigerate.
More: our tepache recipe.
4. Ginger Beer: Made with a Ginger Bug
Traditional ginger beer is fermented with a “ginger bug” – a starter you grow from fresh ginger, sugar and water – rather than carbonated in a factory. It’s spicier and drier than supermarket ginger ale.
Method: for the bug, mix 2 tablespoons each of grated unpeeled ginger and sugar with 2 cups of water. Feed it the same amounts daily until it’s bubbly (about 5–7 days). For the ginger beer, simmer ¼ cup grated ginger in water, dissolve ½ cup sugar, cool, add lemon juice and ¼ cup of the bug liquid to make about 1 litre, bottle and leave 2–3 days, then refrigerate.
More: our Caribbean ginger beer recipe. From the same islands comes the bittersweet bark drink mauby.
5. Bread Kvass: Eastern Europe’s Everyday Drink
Kvass is a traditional low-alcohol drink from Russia, Ukraine and neighboring countries, made by fermenting dark rye bread (or rye malt) with yeast and lactic acid bacteria. It tastes malty, slightly sour and bready – closer to a very light beer than to kombucha (Baschali et al., 2017). Many bottled kvasses are filtered or pasteurized; if you want live cultures, look for “unpasteurized” on the label or make it yourself.
Method: toast dark rye bread until dark, soak it in hot water for several hours, strain, stir in sugar and a pinch of yeast, and ferment 12–24 hours at room temperature before bottling and chilling.
More: our kvass recipe.
6. Beet Kvass: Salty, Earthy and Savory
Beet kvass is a different drink: chopped beets fermented in lightly salted water, like a vegetable brine you drink. It’s earthy, salty and sour – more tonic than soda – and mostly fermented by lactic acid bacteria.
Method: put 2–3 medium beets, peeled and cubed (not grated), in a 2-litre jar, covered with a 2% brine (20 g salt per litre of water), leaving headspace. Keep the beets under the liquid and leave 3–7 days until pleasantly sour. Strain and refrigerate.
More: our beet kvass recipe.
7. Milk Kefir: If You Drink Dairy
Milk kefir isn’t a soda, but it’s the most-studied drink on this list. Kefir grains hold lactic acid bacteria and yeasts in a jelly-like matrix, and kefir has been linked to effects on cholesterol, blood-pressure-related enzymes and the immune system – although many of those reports come from lab and animal studies (Bourrie et al., 2016).
Method: add 1–2 tablespoons of kefir grains to 2 cups of milk, cover and leave about 24 hours at room temperature until thickened, then strain out the grains and refrigerate. The full method, with ratios and timing, is in how to make milk kefir at home. Buying instead? See the best kefir brands.
Three Drinks That Aren’t What They Seem
- Switchel (haymaker’s punch) is water, vinegar, ginger and a sweetener. It’s refreshing, but it isn’t fermented, so it doesn’t contain live cultures.
- Amazake is made by keeping rice and koji at 55–60°C so enzymes turn the starch into sugar. It’s a lovely naturally sweet drink, but it isn’t a probiotic – the heat keeps bacteria from growing. See our amazake guide.
- Rejuvelac, water fermented with sprouted grain, is often described as probiotic. In a 2026 analysis of homemade quinoa rejuvelac, researchers found no lactic acid bacteria at all – the drink was dominated by environmental bacteria such as Pseudomonas and Enterobacter (Brasileiro et al., 2026). We don’t recommend it.
Alcohol, Caffeine and Safety
- Alcohol. In the US, kombucha that reaches 0.5% alcohol at any point, including in the bottle after sale, is regulated as an alcoholic beverage (TTB). When New Zealand researchers tested nine commercial kombuchas, the average was about 0.6%, and 22% were over the country’s 1.15% limit (Nordstrom et al., 2026). Homemade drinks – especially bottled second ferments – can be stronger. If you avoid alcohol completely, are pregnant or are giving these to children, keep that in mind.
- Caffeine. Kombucha and jun contain caffeine from the tea; the others don’t.
- Bottle pressure. Sealed bottles keep building gas. Use bottles made for carbonation, leave headspace, open one to check the fizz and refrigerate as soon as it’s ready.
- Mold. Throw out any batch or culture with fuzzy mold (green, black, white and furry, pink) or a rotten smell.
- Vessels. Brew in glass. Acidic drinks shouldn’t sit in reactive metal or glazed ceramics that may contain lead.
- Health conditions. If you’re immunocompromised, ask your doctor before drinking live-culture drinks.
How much to drink? Start with a small glass a day; see how much fermented food per day. New to kombucha itself? Start with our kombucha brewing guide.
