Running your own business out of your college dorm room might seem like a daunting task to some, but not to senior Chloë Humphrey.
Since last winter, Humphrey has been making, selling, and distributing her very own dorm–made kombucha. What started out as a hobby for health benefits has now blossomed into a part-time side gig, where she gets to experiment with new flavors while making a little money on the side.
As someone who struggled with health problems, she found the drink to be a great way to add more health benefits to her diet. However, she didn’t always have a passion for kombucha. At first, she “didn’t even like it. It tasted like vinegar,” she said.
After trying it for a second time, she ended up acquiring a taste for it. Soon enough, she was guzzling it down every morning. But with the empty bottles racking up, so did the bill.
Humphrey explained that it was too expensive to keep buying kombucha, so she sought a new solution: If you don’t want to buy it, then make it.
Soon enough, the $60 kombucha-making kit she bought online arrived, and she learned the ropes from her cousin’s wife, who had some experience in the practice.
Making kombucha isn’t just like whipping up another drink, Humphrey said. “It’s alive […] a living organism.” After making her first batch, her Chi Omega sisters soon became obsessed with the drink and eventually encouraged her to start selling it.
Humphrey makes a batch or two a month, as it takes about two weeks to make the drink from whole fruit to fermentation, she said. After that, she packs it in her friends’ used glass bottles and goes around to distribute it.
Humphrey now enjoys experimenting with new flavors — lavender peach lemonade is next on her list. So far, her best selling flavor is ginger lemon, she said. She also added that she “takes inspiration from [her] environment,” explaining that she uses all-natural flavors with no preservatives or dye and uses recycled glass bottles.
Making kombucha also takes a great deal of time — something which can be hard to balance if you’re a full-time student who also juggles a part-time job — but Humphrey likes the challenge.
“I like the creative aspect of it, both from the business half and the actual product-making half […] it’s definitely harder to run the business than it is to make the kombucha,” she said. “I do a bunch of other things, so it’s kind of like one more thing on top of that and I can’t really devote a lot of time to it right now.” Humphrey manages everything from her social media page to filling orders.
Originally, Humphrey was hesitant to put up advertisements for her business, worrying that administration would have a problem with it. She stated that she makes safety her utmost priority.
“I want people to like my product. I want it to [be] good for them,” she said, adding that she tastes every batch, and would never sell something which she didn’t taste first.
Currently, Humphrey lives in the Riverview Apartments and is taking orders on Instagram: @komboochieee.
