Hy-Vee has store brand kombucha drinks

Hy-Vee has recently rolled out a new line of store brand kombucha drinks.

The beverages are non-GMO, kosher, gluten free and organic, coming in big flavors like raspberry lemon ginger, pineapple passion fruit, watermelon cherry lime, and mango. The beverages will be found in the HealthMarket refrigerated beverage section inside more than 265 Hy-Vee locations, as well as inside the company’s newer HealthMarket format stores, a Hy-Vee representative told Store Brands. The West Des Moines, Iowa-based retailer operates across eight states in the Midwest. 

The drinks come in 16-ounce bottles and are bottled in the United States using mountain spring water, the representative said. Each drink contains probiotics and enzymes typically found in kombucha but these private brand versions only contain 4 grams of added sugars.

Kombucha, a fermented tea that has a small amount of alcohol, is gaining in popularity, as featured in Store Brands’ beverage report. Versions with more alcohol seem to be getting attention.

For the Hy-Vee store brand kombucha drinks, Melissa Jaeger, a registered dietitian with Hy-Vee, shared two recipes with a local news station using the kombucha drinks. One recipe was for a healthy, vibrant kombucha-based vinaigrette and the other for a mint sauce.