employees at their Middlebury facility . The operation has scaled up considerably since its early days , and Aqua ViTea now delivers to states across the eastern seaboard as far south as Maryland and Virginia . Refusing to compromise on production standards , Weaber and his team still go to extreme lengths to make sure that their product has retained the same quality as their very first batch . “ From a production perspective , scaling kombucha is very difficult . From the start , the challenge was taking a product that traditionally is brewed one gallon at a time at home and learning how to make it quickly . Not only that , we had to make it in a small space at a high level of quality with authentic methods , and we had to distribute it effectively . We spent countless hours developing a system that accomplished those goals , and we ’ re proud to be still using that system to this day here at Aqua ViTea .”
Weaber says that one of the things that allowed Aqua ViTea to initially broaden its reach while maintaining its quality was its self-serve draft model . “ Packaging – especially glass bottles – can be very expensive . We tackled early production and cost challenges by pushing
12 VERMONT MAGAZINE