Live Seltzer is a new line extension from Bellingham, Washington-based Kombucha Town, which is a producer of raw and organic kombuchas. It combines a touch of kombucha with sparkling water to create a line of beverages that are low calorie and shelf stable.

The line is launching in three flavors: Grapefruit Clarity, Ginger Energy and Cucumber Focus. The products are packaged in 12 ounce cans and are labeled as having 1 or 2 calories and 0 grams of sugar per can. The ingredients include water, live kombucha and no flavorings.

From a taste perspective, all are very much sparkling water beverages. The kombucha flavor in each is subtle, and about as strong as the fruit flavoring you’d find in the mainstream sparkling water brands.

All three varieties are superb choices as they work as both sparkling water and kombucha flavors and they are totally enjoyable even without any added sweeteners. We particularly liked the bright, fresh flavors of Grapefruit Clarify and Cucumber Focus and feel that these are the best showcases for the line. Ginger Energy is enjoyable in its own right, with a soft ginger spice and a flavor that is roughly similar to a ginger ale. 

Ultimately, we feel that all three are well executed and should please even a mainstream consumer’s palate. 

Moving on to the packaging, this product utilizes a shrink sleeve label and each flavor has a background color that’s unique to that particular SKU. The front panel has an illustration of the hero ingredient in the center with a Live Seltzer logo, which is simply stylized text, sitting above it. At the top of the can is the text “kombucha-infused” while at the very bottom you’ll find the flavor name and a callout for “cold brewed in Bellingham, WA.” Lastly, small callouts for the calorie and sugar content can be found to the right of the hero ingredient illustration.

Upon first glance, we found ourselves looking around to figure out what the brand name was, as “live seltzer” also sounds like a product descriptor. We’d love to see this developed into a stronger brand logo or for the Kombucha Town logo to be integrated into it. 

While the can does an effective job of communicating what’s inside the can, we feel that the overall aesthetic could use a bit of refinement and polish -- especially if it wants to hold its own against the other kombucha brands that are making their way into the sparkling water space. 

One final comment on the branding: we don’t think that the functional component to each flavor name (e.g. “focus” in Cucumber Focus) is necessary. There’s nothing to explain or back this up and it seems like something that takes away from the overall messaging of these products.

Overall, we think that Live Seltzer is a very logical line extension for Kombucha Town given the current market trends. They’ve definitely put their best foot forward when it comes to flavor and, with some refinement to the packaging, we think that this brand will be in a good spot.