Long long time ago I had a few months where I brewed my own kombucha. At the time I was able to get a SCOBY by adding the bottom of a commerical kombucha to some sweetened tea which eventually grew into a full SCOBY which I used and split to make some batches. It was simple and easy

Is this something I can still do? Is there any brands that are more "raw" that would be a better starter?

Some kombucha is pasteurised which kills the bacteria.

Just make sure you use a natural kombucha, unflavoured and unpasteurised.

Get it on Amazon. They sell little pouches with stock or liquid.

Anyone brewing kombucha would be more than happy to share some scoby with you! they usually have too much, and several backups in the fridge/freezer etc..
It's also so easy to divide: you just grab it with your bare (washed, thotoughly rinsed) hands, tear it like a piece of strong cardboard, and any portion would do. you then give it with a bit of the liquid in a bag or jar, and together they will start a culture anywhere...

If i were you I would find a way to call for people around where you live and find one such person, rather than buying anything from a store or such. local auction/second hand sites could be a great place to search. Scobys are often listed for free or just a few bucks....

Also there is something immensely cool when you think of it: you got it from someone, who got it from someone, who... etc. maybe your Scoby is much much older than you?

What do you mean about unflavored? I know most are unpasteurized but most have some flavor. Do you have a brand in mind?

I figured they would. I would prefer to not purchase it from Amazon. I also think its pretty fun to make it. But I might have to do that.

I don't know anyone who has been brewing Kombucha which is a little annoying. I could check out and see if they have one on my buy nothing group or something else.

It is cool that the SCOBY is pasted on from someone else. Its kind of its own little ecosystem that we humans use to make something delicious. Fermentation is so interesting like that. We use invisible creatures to make something better.

I’m in Australia, so brands will probably vary.

We get all sorts of flavours, from berry, to peach, various herb flavours, raspberry. All sorts. I avoid those if building a new SCOBY

Makes sense. I have only really seen flavored Kombucha. I have seen plenty of raw Kombucha but nothing that is unflavored. Since Kombucha's base is usually tea with some sweeteners what even would be the base?

Just fermented tea and sugar

I tried making it, but the problem is that the scovy forms too slowly from stuff you buy at the store. There's a fundamental problem for kombucha makers. It makes CO2 and alcohol. I haven't measured what sort of pressures are possible but it's about to burst aluminum cans. So hey, you love kombucha, go get it from the store but be careful or you'll get kombucha in your car all over the car or you might need stitches. Because of this problem and the generation of alcohol... Which makes it a requirement to have a license.... The makers simply heat the mix to kill the colony before you get it. Same taste but it's all dead or mostly dead.

You might find live cultures at the local swapmeet or flea market or Asian or Latino stores. But there's the possibility of bringing home some deadly disease or a get your self blind or kill your liver sort of deal. For those reasons I opted to get it from Amazon. I sort of paused after I totally screwed up. I fed it a very drink that I got from Ikea. It's some christmas popular berry from Ikea's country of origin.

Do not, I repeat, do not feed kombucha lingon berries. It has got to be the nastiest least offensive smell and taste. You see it, you think it will taste good and it sort of tastes ok when the liquid touches your tongue. But it's too late. You sense of smell tricks you, you get an after smell and a horrific after taste. It's not like hot pepper or Philippine balut when your body is ready to be in contact with the nastiest matter ever expected. No, it's the fact that you're expecting sweet raspberry preserve and you are met with sweaty shoe mixed with wet cardboard and pinesol.

Somehow the Scovy learns that taste and it appears that it just keeps giving you shoe tasting kombucha after that. So don't.

I used to buy the regular unflavored GTS bottle but the grocery stores near me stopped carrying it

Cool. I assume it's black tea then

Hmm. I wonder if some preservatives in the "juice" messes with the yeast and / or bacteria in the Scoby.

I might buy a commercial Scoby. There's a local store that might have it which I feel better about.

I love the GTS kombucha. I usually get their ginger one. I will have to check my local co-op to see if they have a raw unflavored because I know I haven't seen it elsewhere.

Yeah, only black tea works