What is a Kombucha Legend? A Person or Story that has contributed to the history, knowledge or proliferation of this ancient beverage. Enjoy!
Linda and Len Porzio
Len Porzio is an old school Kombucha fanatic. Ever since I started brewing, I’ve been a fan of his Balance Your Brew page, a fantastic reference for the long term homebrewer of Kombucha.
Len is an easygoing gentleman from Virginia, very friendly and open to discussing the wonderful fermented elixir (yes, he and his wife still drink Kombucha every day!).
A software engineer by trade, Len first looked to Kombucha due to health concerns. A friend encouraged him to try it out, and its positive effects transformed his life.
Wanting to spread that Kombucha love, he began years of detailed experimentation with his brews, something he says gives him great pleasure. But that’s not the only reason he’s a Kombucha Legend. Mr. Porzio is also responsible for inventing a critical component of our Booch language. Read below to find out more!
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Len Porzio: I first heard about Kombucha from Jack Barclay via a listserv I was a member of back when the internet was just born. It was the mid 1990′s and I was suffering from what I later realized was candida overgrowth.
At the time, I was into distance running, ate lots of honey and even though I was thin, I had lost 20lbs. The doctors couldn’t figure out what was wrong with me.
As synchronicity would have it, after Jack had told me about Kombucha, I was visiting a friend in North Carolina and lo and behold, at the local farmer’s market, there was a vendor selling Kombucha mushrooms.
LP: Yes, it’s true. At the time, we (the KT listserv group) had been discussing the symbiotic relationship between the yeast and bacteria while in parallel conversations we were having difficulty distinguishing between the fermented tea and the white, pancake culture as they were both being referred to as “Kombucha.”
During one such confused discussion I began toying with some acronyms and suggested to the group we come up with some kind of name like SCOBY ( short for “Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast”.) I assumed someone would come up with a better name, but it stuck.
Colleen Allen, the list administrator list back then, did me the favor of registering it online as an official acronym. Obviously, it’s still used today!
LP: I started out slow and worked my way up to 6oz. The symptoms of my candida began to recede after a week or so. After about 3 months, I felt cured. After a year of drinking Kombucha on a daily basis, my sinuses suddenly cleared. I had suffered from allergies for most of my life, so when I was able to breathe clearly, that was indeed miraculous.
My wife has also received health benefits from drinking Kombucha Tea. She was diagnosed with gall bladder problems and the doctors said they would have to remove it surgically. She was adamant in that she didn’t want any part of her anatomy removed.
She’s kept surgery at bay, the symptoms abated and each year there are fewer stones. She swears by it. Now I make it for her but I also have adopted it as my must have beverage out of respect for all it has done for us.
LP: Well, it took 8 years of brewing and experiments before I was able to isolate the different variables that are enumerated on the page. On the list, so many new people would join and ask the same questions over and over again.
Bob Williams the reigning list administrator, suggested I write it all up so I wouldn’t have to continually answer the same questions. When the listserv was decomissioned Bev Ferguson rehosted it at its present location.
I never imagined it would end up translated into several languages with links all over the internet. It’s kind of neat to see a page in another language and then “Len Porzio,” my name. I still get emails about the page to this day.
LP: If you perfect your recipe and process, you will find that no juice or other mixer will ever match the deliciousness of unflavored Kombucha. I use a ratio of 3 green tea bags to 2 black tea bags and I find it’s the most wonderful taste imaginable.
Hannah Crum is 
Wow that is great that you found Len Porzio and interviewed him. His guidelines are an important information filled reference for me. They form an important part of any manual for Kombucha brewers. The fact that his observations reflect eight years of brewing and that he was able to so concisely provide guidelines says a lot about him. How cool that he coined the term scoby. It seems he and I share a similar benefit from drinking Kombucha; cleared up sinuses. Interesting that it helped his candida, I wonder if he has done any further research on the topic. I also wonder if his Candida imbalance is completely gone or if it comes and goes. Thanks for posting this interview, and Len if you are listening thank you for your concise information filled guidelines.
Len Porzio is a good friend of mine. He was over for Thanksgiving with his wife Linda. He always brings a couple of 6 packs of Kombucha with him.
Len wanted a Kombucha after thanksgiving dinner, so I pulled one out of the fridge, but I gave him one that he brought over a couple of months ago. It was a lot better than the stuff he just brought and had more fizz. I am convinced that letting it ferment for a couple of months at low temperature changes the chemistry and makes it taste better.
Len puts a couple of slices of ginger in each bottle and I think the ginger extracts into the Kombucha after spending more time in the bottle.
Astute observation Bob! I’m a fan of bottled aged Kombuchas. It brings out a more nuanced flavor. Cheers to you and Len!
Great interview with Len Hannah. I had the fortune of starting out on the KT Listserv back in the day along with Mike Roussin, Gunthar Frank and many other kt legends. Their research, studies and enthusiasm for kt has been invaluable and played a major roll in bringing kt to the 21st century. Thanks for sharing.