Does Kombucha contain Alcohol?

The Food and Drug Administration legally requires any beverages containing more than 0.5% alcohol by volume (ABV) to be labelled as an alcoholic beverage so most store bought brands of kombucha contain less than this amount. You don’t have to be 21 to buy kombucha as long as the alcohol content is under 0.5% ABV. Your homemade kombucha can contain more alcohol than commercial produced varieties, because the fermentation conditions (temperature and duration) are often less controlled. In general if the yeast are more active, such as when they are working under warmer temperatures or for a longer time, more alcohol will remain in the finished kombucha, ranging from 0.5% to 2% ABV. It’s rare that homebrewed kombucha to ever exceeds 2% ABV. At that point, the kombucha will likely be too vinegary and effervescent to be drinkable. And you’d still have to drink about 10 bottles of it to even feel a slight “buzz.”