Aqua ViTea

The brand's origins trace to 2005, when Weaber began homebrewing in the farmhouse basement of his Vermont property. That same year, Aqua ViTea took shape alongside a naturopathic clinic founded by his wife Katina. Created as a healthier alternative to soda and sports drinks, the brand officially launched in 2007, initially selling farmhouse-brewed kombucha at local farmers markets. It later moved into keg-based distribution, becoming an early mover in the kombucha-on-tap model, with up to 700 outlets on draft from Pennsylvania to Maine before the pandemic.

Aqua ViTea now operates from a 60,000 sq ft facility in Middlebury, Vermont, with thirty full-time employees, 90% of whom live in rural areas. The brand has been voted one of the Best Places to Work in Vermont.

Its kombucha is brewed with organic green and black tea and live probiotics, with tea sourced from over 575 farmers paid livable wages across China and India. To produce alcohol-free kombucha, the brand uses Flavourtech Spinning Cone technology to distil off excess alcohol under vacuum conditions, meaning the alcohol is removed at reduced pressure. An in-house microbiologist performs testing with a headspace gas chromatograph to verify alcohol levels.

The Middlebury facility composts 26,000 lbs of tea per year for local agriculture, redirects over 72,000 lbs of excess SCOBYs annually to an anaerobic digester, and contributes 75,000 lbs of wastewater to that same system for renewable energy. Up to 35% of fills at the brand's kombucha fountains use reusable glass.

Aqua ViTea describes itself as the leading East Coast kombucha manufacturer and distributes to states across the country. One of its drinks has won awards.