5 Questions with Len Porzio

Len Porzio: I first heard about Kombucha from Jack Barclay via a listserv I was a member of back when the internet was just born. It was the mid 1990’s and I was suffering from what I later realized was candida overgrowth.

At the time, I was into distance running, ate lots of honey and even though I was thin, I had lost 20lbs. The doctors couldn’t figure out what was wrong with me.

As synchronicity would have it, after Jack had told me about Kombucha, I was visiting a friend in North Carolina and lo and behold, at the local farmer’s market, there was a vendor selling Kombucha mushrooms.

LP: Yes, it’s true. At the time, we (the KT listserv group) had been discussing the symbiotic relationship between the yeast and bacteria while in parallel conversations we were having difficulty distinguishing between the fermented tea and the white, pancake culture as they were both being referred to as “Kombucha.”

During one such confused discussion I began toying with some acronyms and suggested to the group we come up with some kind of name like SCOBY ( short for “Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast”.) I assumed someone would come up with a better name, but it stuck.

Colleen Allen, the list administrator list back then, did me the favor of registering it online as an official acronym. Obviously, it’s still used today!

LP: I started out slow and worked my way up to 6oz. The symptoms of my candida began to recede after a week or so. After about 3 months, I felt cured. After a year of drinking Kombucha on a daily basis, my sinuses suddenly cleared. I had suffered from allergies for most of my life, so when I was able to breathe clearly, that was indeed miraculous.

My wife has also received health benefits from drinking Kombucha Tea. She was diagnosed with gall bladder problems and the doctors said they would have to remove it surgically. She was adamant in that she didn’t want any part of her anatomy removed.

She’s kept surgery at bay, the symptoms abated and each year there are fewer stones. She swears by it. Now I make it for her but I also have adopted it as my must have beverage out of respect for all it has done for us.

LP: Well, it took 8 years of brewing and experiments before I was able to isolate the different variables that are enumerated on the page. On the list, so many new people would join and ask the same questions over and over again.

Bob Williams the reigning list administrator, suggested I write it all up so I wouldn’t have to continually answer the same questions. When the listserv was decomissioned Bev Ferguson rehosted it at its present location.

I never imagined it would end up translated into several languages with links all over the internet. It’s kind of neat to see a page in another language and then “Len Porzio,” my name. I still get emails about the page to this day.

LP: If you perfect your recipe and process, you will find that no juice or other mixer will ever match the deliciousness of unflavored Kombucha. I use a ratio of 3 green tea bags to 2 black tea bags and I find it’s the most wonderful taste imaginable.