I just bottled my first batch of kombucha. I tried kombucha for the first time recently. Honestly, I thought the ones I tried were a little bland, but I definitely saw enough potential to want to try it out myself. I grew up a SCOBY from the dregs of a few bottles of Live Kombucha Soda. I stepped it up similar to stepping up bottle dregs from a beer.
From what I understand, a lot of Kombucha makers reformulated their products a few years back when there were some concerns that the refermented Kombucha could potentially exceed 1% ABV. What I don't like about the Live Soda is that they sweeten with something like stevia or splenda, which leaves an "artificial sweetener" taste. The good thing is that this means that their culture probably isn't doctored, since they aren't back-sweetening with sugar. It took a little time, but I have a nice jellyfish going on right now.
I backsweetened this batch with Pom-blueberry juice and bottled in 12oz PET soda bottles. I'm hoping I'll get a nice fizz out of them, but they're already pretty damn tasty even if they don't sparkle up too much,