The best way to make a bunch of amazing friends is to get a dog. As soon as we got Stella, our social circle expanded in the most wonderful ways. The friends we met in the dog park that first summer have stuck with us ever since, to the point where I really need to stop calling them my dog park friends. Especially now that we spend most of our time together in other places, and usually without our dogs (gasp!).

One of our dog park friends, Tanya, started making really fantastic kombucha at home (kombucha is a cold, fizzy drink made from fermented green tea). I first tried it at a party and then happily volunteered to “test” her fun flavors, along with the rest of our neighborhood. She’d drop off different bottles of colorful kombucha that kept getting better and better. Eventually, Tanya launched Craft Kombucha and started brewing full time. You may remember hearing about Tanya and her kombucha when we co-hosted a brunch for our dog park friends. I made sticky maple bacon and a potato frittata, and she supplied kombucha cocktails. It was an awesome day. Since then, Tanya’s business has grown, and she just launched a Kickstarter campaign to help her keep up with demand.

Some fun things:

• Craft Kombucha stars Tanya’s boxer and Stella’s buddy, Guiness (pictured above)
• Tanya’s brewing vats are named after Guiness’ friends
• Some of my favorite kombucha flavors are made with hops, so they taste like beer
• Kombucha can last in the fridge for a very long time
• You can clean your kombucha bottles with a magnet and a metal nut

So tell me, are there kombucha brewers popping up all over your town, or are you too busy hanging in the dog park to notice?