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Speak fluent ferment
The glossary
SCOBY, gochugaru, second fermentation… the words we use every day, explained in plain language. No jargon left behind.
A
ABV
A
Alcohol by volume, the usual measure of alcohol. Our kombucha and tibicos carry roughly 0.5 to 1%, a trace from the yeasts, far below a beer.
Acetic acid
/ a-SEE-tik /
One of the acids kombucha bacteria produce. It is what gives a mature kombucha its pleasant vinegary tang.
Acetobacter
/ a-SEE-toh-bak-ter /
The bacteria that turn alcohol into acetic acid. In kombucha they take what the yeasts make and turn it tangy.
Aerobic
/ air-OH-bik /
With oxygen. Some ferments want air and others do not. Kombucha's first fermentation is aerobic, working away under a breathable cloth, while kimchi is anaerobic.
Anaerobic
/ an-air-OH-bik /
Without oxygen. Lacto-fermentation (kimchi) is anaerobic: we pack the jar tight and submerge the vegetables so the good bacteria thrive and moulds cannot.
B
Barometer
A
An instrument for reading pressure. Since carbonation is really just pressure, watching it climb tells you how much fizz a sealed bottle is building, and when it has had enough.
Batch
A
A single run of a ferment, bottled together under one lot number. Nothing here is identical twice, so every batch has a little character of its own.
Bifidobacterium
/ bif-id-oh-bak-TEER-ee-um /
A friendly group of gut bacteria, among the very first to settle in us as babies. They feed on fibre and are one of the mainstays of a healthy microbiome.
Bioavailability
A
How much of a nutrient your body can actually absorb and use. Fermentation tends to raise it, breaking food down so vitamins and minerals are easier to take up.
Biofilm
A
A community of microbes living together inside a protective layer they build themselves. A kombucha SCOBY is essentially a biofilm you can pick up in your hand.
Brine
/ brine /
The salty, tangy liquid at the bottom of a kimchi jar. Full of live cultures, so save it for dressings, marinades or starting a new ferment.
Brix
/
A scale for sugar content, read with a refractometer. It tells us how sweet the tea or juice is before fermenting, and how much the microbes have eaten since.
Bubble room
/
Our name for the cooler, fresher room where the bottled kombucha and tibicos rest and build up their natural fizz. Not a second fermentation, just where the bubbles happen.
Butyrate
/ BYOO-ti-rate /
A short-chain fatty acid your gut bacteria make from fibre. It feeds the cells lining your gut, one reason fibre and ferments belong on the same plate.
C
CO₂
/ see-oh-two /
Carbon dioxide. The gas microbes release as they ferment. It is the fizz in kombucha and tibicos, and the reason a kimchi jar sighs when you open it.
Colony-forming units (CFU)
A
The way live microbes are counted: how many can grow into a colony. Probiotic amounts are usually given in CFU.
Culture / mother
A
The living community of microbes that drives a ferment. Our kombucha SCOBY and tibicos grains are both mother cultures: feed them and they last for years.
D
Dysbiosis
/ dis-by-OH-sis /
A gut knocked out of balance, the unhelpful microbes crowding out the helpful ones. Variety in what you eat, ferments included, helps tip it back.
E
Effervescence
A
The soft natural fizz of a live drink, made by microbes in the bottle rather than pumped in. Ours carbonate themselves.
Enzyme
A
A protein that speeds up a reaction. Ferments are full of them, made by the microbes, and they are part of why fermented food can sit more easily.
F
Fermentation
A
The process where microbes (bacteria, yeast or mould) transform sugars into acids, gases or alcohol, preserving food and creating flavour. Everything we make starts here.
Fibre
A
The part of plants you cannot digest but your gut bacteria can. Their favourite meal, and the raw material for postbiotics like butyrate.
First fermentation
A
The initial fermenting stage, around 14 days for kombucha, where the base liquid becomes sour and alive, before any fruit or flavour is added.
G
Gochugaru
/ go-choo-GA-roo /
Korean red chilli flakes, coarse and fruity rather than blisteringly hot. The soul of our kimchi's colour and warmth.
Grains (tibicos)
A
The small, translucent clusters of bacteria and yeast that ferment tibicos (water kefir). Technically a SCOBY too. The white, cauliflower-like clusters people often picture are milk kefir; the water-kefir ones are see-through. Nothing to do with cereal grains.
Gut-brain axis
A
The constant two-way conversation between your gut and your brain. The microbes in your gut take part in it, which is one reason gut health and mood are so closely tied.
H
Histamine
/ HISS-ta-meen /
A compound that builds up in aged and fermented foods. Most people are fine with it; a few are sensitive, which is worth knowing if ferments ever do not agree with you.
Hydrometer
/ hy-DROM-e-ter /
A weighted float that measures a liquid's density, and from it the sugar and alcohol. It tracks a ferment from sweet start to dry finish.
I
Inoculation
/ in-ock-you-LAY-shun /
Seeding a fresh batch with a live starter: a spoonful of tibicos, a SCOBY, or tempeh spores. The moment a ferment is given its culture and set going.
K
Kimchi
/ KIM-chee /
The Korean staple of vegetables, usually cabbage, lacto-fermented with chilli, garlic and ginger. Tangy, savoury and alive, and never quite the same twice.
Koji
/ KOH-jee /
The Japanese relative of tempeh's mould, Aspergillus oryzae, grown on rice or beans. The starting point for miso, soy sauce and sake.
Kombucha
/ kom-BOO-cha /
Sweetened tea fermented by a SCOBY into a lightly tart, gently fizzy drink. One of the oldest and best-loved ferments, and where Ragi started.
L
LAB (Lactic Acid Bacteria)
/
The family of bacteria behind most of our ferments. They turn sugars into lactic acid, which preserves the food, sharpens the flavour and keeps spoilage microbes out. Kimchi and tibicos lean on them.
Lacto-fermentation
/ LAK-toh /
Fermentation led by Lactobacillus bacteria, which turn sugars into lactic acid. It is how good kimchi, sauerkraut and pickles are made, with no dairy involved despite the name.
Lactobacillus
/ lak-toh-ba-SIL-us /
The family of good bacteria behind lacto-fermentation. They create the clean sour tang and naturally preserve the food.
Leuconostoc
/ loo-koh-NOS-tok /
A lactic-acid bacterium that leads the early days of kimchi fermentation. Leuconostoc mesenteroides, one of the most abundant bacteria in our kimchi, was recognised in 2026 for its potential to help the body get rid of nanoplastics.
M
Metabolites
/
The compounds microbes make as they feed, from acids and vitamins to short-chain fatty acids. A lot of what makes fermented food good for you comes from these, not just the microbes themselves.
Microbiome
/ MY-kro-by-ohm /
The vast community of bacteria, yeasts and other microbes living in and on you, most of it in the gut. A diverse microbiome is a healthy one, which is exactly why we make several ferments rather than just one.
Mother
/
See Culture. The established SCOBY or grain colony you keep alive and reuse batch after batch.
Mycelium
/ my-SEE-lee-um /
The fine white web of mould threads that knits tempeh into a firm cake. In tempeh it is Rhizopus; the grey patches it later forms are harmless spores.
O
Osmosis
/ oz-MOH-sis /
Water moving toward saltier ground. Salt a cabbage and osmosis draws its water out, making the very brine that kimchi and sauerkraut ferment in.
P
Pasteurisation
/
Heating a product to kill microbes and extend shelf life. We do not pasteurise, since it would kill the living cultures (and, in tempeh, add bitterness). Our ferments stay alive.
pH
/
A measure of acidity. Fermentation lowers the pH, and that rising acidity is exactly what keeps unwanted microbes out and the food safe. A sour ferment is a well-protected one.
Polyphenols
/
Plant compounds found in tea, fruit and vegetables that act as antioxidants and feed the gut. Fermentation can make them easier for the body to take up.
Postbiotic
/ post-by-OT-ik /
The beneficial compounds microbes leave behind after they ferment: acids, enzymes, vitamins. The useful by-products of all that microbial work.
Prebiotic
/ pree-by-OT-ik /
The fibres that feed the good bacteria in your gut. Food for your microbes, rather than the microbes themselves.
Probiotic
/ pro-by-OT-ik /
A live microorganism that may benefit the gut. We can't legally make health claims, but our ferments are unpasteurised and full of living cultures. Read into that what you like.
R
Ragis
/
What we call the living cultures at the heart of everything we make, the bacteria and yeasts doing the work. We named the company after them: ragi means ferment in Indonesian.
Raw
/
Unheated, uncooked, unpasteurised, with the cultures intact. Kombucha, tibicos and kimchi are all raw; tempeh is the one we ask you to cook.
Rhizopus oligosporus
/ RY-zo-pus /
The noble mould that ferments tempeh, binding cooked beans into a sliceable cake with a gentle mushroomy flavour. One of the few food ferments powered by a fungus.
S
Salinity
/ sa-LIN-i-tee /
How salty a brine is, usually a percentage of the vegetables' weight. Too little and it spoils, too much and the good bacteria stall. Kimchi lives in a narrow, well-judged band.
Sauerkraut
/ SOW-er-krowt /
Lacto-fermented cabbage: shredded, salted, and left to time. The plainest ferment there is, and a fine place to start at home.
SCOBY
/ SKOH-bee /
Symbiotic Culture Of Bacteria and Yeast, the rubbery disc that ferments kombucha. Small pieces in your bottle are normal, and a sign it is truly unpasteurised.
Second fermentation
/
When we add the flavour (fruit, flowers, herbs or juice) to the fermented base and let it sit for a day or two more before bottling. This is where the flavour comes from.
Serotonin
/ seh-ro-TOH-nin /
A chemical messenger tied to mood and wellbeing. Famously, the large majority of it is made in the gut rather than the brain, one more reason to keep your gut happy.
Short-chain fatty acids
/
The compounds your gut bacteria make when they ferment fibre, butyrate among them. They feed the cells lining your gut and are one of the clearest links between fermented food and feeling well.
Spores
/
The dormant, seed-like form some microbes take. Tempeh is started with Rhizopus spores: sprinkle them on, keep them warm, and the mould wakes up and gets to work.
Symbiosis
/ sim-bee-OH-sis /
Two organisms living together, each better for the other. A SCOBY is symbiosis you can hold, bacteria and yeast feeding one another.
Synbiotic
/ sin-by-OT-ik /
Prebiotics and probiotics together, the food and the microbes in one. The two working as a pair.
T
Tempeh
/ TEM-pay /
A firm, protein-rich cake of beans fermented by Rhizopus mould. Born in Java; we make ours with Swiss-grown chickpeas.
Terroir
/ teh-RWAR /
Borrowed from wine: the idea that place leaves a taste. Our local water, air and seasons mean our ferments will not taste quite like anyone else's.
Tibicos
/ ti-BEE-kos /
Also called water kefir. A light, fizzy, mineral drink fermented by tibicos grains, with no tea, gentler than kombucha and naturally gluten-free.
U
Umami
/ oo-MA-mee /
The deep savoury fifth taste. Fermentation is an umami factory, which is why a mature kimchi or a slice of tempeh tastes so moreish.
Unpasteurised
/
Never heat-treated, so the cultures stay alive. The whole point of what we do, and why everything ships and stays cold.
V
Vinegar
/
What kombucha becomes if it ferments too long, the acetic acid climbing until it is sharp enough for a salad. Not a mistake, just a different finish line.
W
Wild fermentation
/
Fermenting with the microbes already on the food and in the air, with no added starter. It is how kimchi and sauerkraut get going.
Y
Yeast
/
The microbes that turn sugars into alcohol and CO₂. In kombucha and tibicos they work alongside bacteria, and together they make the fizz.
Z
Zymology
/ zy-MOL-o-jee /
The study of fermentation. A real word, and a rather lovely one for how we spend our days.
