• by Fern Siegel , February 20, 2025

Kombucha has a moving origin story in the U.S.

It began as a home brew by a 15-year-old boy to help his mother, suffering from cancer. Doctors found it aided her immune system. He then shared samples at California health stores, hoping to help others.

As GT Dave, founder-CEO of GT's Living Foods explains: “This experience solidified my commitment to making products that truly help people. It was becoming obvious to me that disease was becoming more prevalent, and food really is medicine.”

Thirty years later, Synergy leads the kombucha category, the first bottled kombucha sold here. And to note its product expansion, it has debuted new ads and a logo.

The internal creative team collaborated with Scholar for creative production and Canvas Worldwide for media buying. The ads are running on streaming TV, social media and digital. 

To reinforce its commitment to authenticity, in the face of rivals that pasteurize or water down the process, GTLF is introducing “The Real Kombucha” wordmark across all Synergy bottles.

As GTLF expands beyond kombucha, the brand unveiled a new logo — a modernized expression of its roots and a symbol of its future.

“This new logo reflects that spirit — it moves beyond my initials and represents something bigger,” added Dave. The new products include Cocoyo, (raw coconut yogurt), Agua de Kefir, (cultured hydration), Alive (ancient mushroom elixirs) and Immortal (wellness shots).

It's also introducing Wildflower, a special-edition kombucha.

Tim Ngo, senior vice president of marketing at GTLF, said: “As the category creator, we have a responsibility to uphold authenticity. The Real Kombucha wordmark on every Synergy bottle is our commitment to consumers: This is kombucha as it was meant to be.”