Homebrewing away the pandemic days with kombucha How I learned to stop worrying and love the SCOBY. Â A year ago, when the pandemic forced us all to work from home, each Tampa Bay Times reporter became chief of their own little bureau. As late-stage pandemic days trickle by, some of us have also become head brewers of our own kombucha taprooms. We line up our little bottles of booch, tinted purple and red and orange depending on the ingredients floating inside, and snap photos for one another. We swap Amazon links to glass jars and pH strips, and rank our favorite fruit and herb combinations. Weâve given names to our SCOBYs, the âsymbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast,â which make this whole process possible. The SCOBYs are welcome new companions, after all. Otherwise, we all live alone.