We believe that lowering our environmental impact and supporting other organizations in our community are two of the most important things we can do as a small business, not just for our community but for the world. Below are a few of the ways we have built our business practices to reflect our values.
At Escarpment Kombucha Co., we brew, ferment, carbonate and bottle in batches between 10 and 25 litres, which allows us to create carefully-made kombucha entirely by hand! This method avoids the use of energy-intensive equipment typical of larger breweries (plus, we can adjust each batch until it tastes perfect).
We work out of The Kitchen Collective, a non-profit commercial kitchen on King St. E. in central Hamilton that is home to more than a dozen small local businesses. The kitchen’s cooperative structure allows all of our members to share resources like cleaning products, electricity, and natural gas, further lowering our collective carbon footprint.
All of our ingredients are sourced as locally and organically as possible, with over 85% of the produce and botanicals we use for flavouring being grown pesticide-free and bought directly from the farmer!
Our base teas and cane sugar are fair-trade, organic, and sourced from member-owned co-operatives (Camino in Peru and Nepal Tea Collective in Nepal).
Some ingredients, such as rhubarb, staghorn sumac, candy mint, and cedar fronds, we gather and process ourselves through our partnership with Baba Link Organic Farm. Pat and other farmers like Tahlia from Sunfire Herbals connect us to new and interesting ingredients, and inspire us to think local when developing our seasonal flavours!
The life cycle of our product is as follows: