TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – A new year’s resolution to be more healthy and drink less alcohol has been combined into something that people are now calling “Dry January.” This is a popular health and wellness trend where individuals choose to abstain from consuming alcoholic beverages for the entire first month of the year.

It is seen as a way to start the new year with a focus on physical and mental well-being, promote healthier habits, and give the body a break from the effects of alcohol.

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But it doesn’t have to be boring or unbearable. Courtney Lorenz, owner of Cultured Kombucha Co (Cultured) in Traverse City, told 9&10 News, “You don’t have to suffer through ‘Dry January.’ There are really simple ways that you can make an upgrade to your ‘Dry January’ to make it nice and easy.”

Kombucha company in Traverse City offers a healthy alternative to drinking alcohol.

Northern lower Michigan’s “Cultured” is on board with the Dry January movement, but not just for the month of January. They would like their drinks to be part of a healthy movement for Michiganders all throughout the year.

This company’s products are vegan, certified USDA organic and family-friendly. Brewed, bottled and packaged in Traverse City, they are the fastest growing kombucha company in Michigan.

Some of those simple ways to get through Dry January that Lorenz was mentioning include drinking fun and tasty flavors like their Yooperberry blend which is made with Michigan-grown blueberries and described as the “flavor of Northern Michigan’s summer” bottled up into a delicious bottle of kombucha.

A healthy lifestyle is the vision for the company.

32-year-old Courtney Lorenz is the owner of Cultured, which was started in 2015. Her background is business, culinary and nutrition. She says she originally went to culinary school and after that studied to be a dietician. She told Michigan News Source, “I really found that my innate path in life was to help people connect to their health and wellness.”

Lorenz emphasizes that as much as they have an incredible product, the business is more about teaching people how to transition into healthier lifestyle choices using the product as a teaching vessel. She likes to talk about how the science of how food affects our bodies and how she’s on a mission to help people make healthier lifestyle choices one sip at a time.

What is Kombucha?

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Kombucha is a beverage for people looking for a healthy alternative to pop, alcohol or for those who are just looking for a delicious gut probiotic. Kombucha is a fermented tea that is fermented for health instead of alcohol. It provides probiotics, live cultures, and digestive enzymes. In describing it, Lorenz says it’s “a little bit tart, a little bit sweet and a little bit bubbly.” It’s also something that both kids and adults can drink on a regular basis.

Lorenz says that Cultured brews a nutrient broth – a blend of tea, filtered water and certified organic cane sugar that gets “inoculated” with a live culture which she explains is like “Pac-Man” eating up all of the sugars.

When the sugars are eaten, it creates live cultures, digestive enzymes, and beneficial acids for the body to use that creates health benefits. The culture that ferments kombucha is called SCOBY (symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast). The bacteria and the yeast feed off each other to create a revolving circle of those health benefits.

What is a probiotic?

A probiotic is a microorganism that, when consumed, maintains or restores beneficial bacteria to the digestive tract. It’s typically referred to as “good” or “friendly” bacteria. The microorganisms are believed to promote a healthy gut environment and are reported to have many potential health benefits, such as supporting digestion, enhancing the immune system, and maintaining a balance between beneficial and harmful bacteria in the gut.

Cultured offers a delicious assortment of flavors.

Cultured has five year-round flavors and rotating seasonal products. Their website currently lists the flavors being offered as: Namaste Nectar, Genuine Ginger, Local’s Lemonade, Yooperberry, Lavender, Strawberry Rhubarb, Tasty Tepache, and Spiced Pear.

They have a taproom where the “mad scientists” come up with exciting new flavors for the company. Lorenz has five employees and she says that most of her team members have a culinary background.

She explains how they do pilot test batches at the taproom and at farmers markets to get customer feedback. All of her employees get to have a hand in creating new kombucha products and have the opportunity to play around with flavors to come up with something new.

Supporting the end of human trafficking.

Lorenz isn’t just passionate about getting people to eat and drink healthier though. She also supports the cause of ending human trafficking. She says it’s a heavy and challenging topic that needs more attention – and something that she has personally put an effort towards raising awareness for.

Lorenz said, “it seems like a distant issue until you realize how frequently it happens in your own small communities and that’s when it really starts to hit home.”

With the business, Lorenz says she feels like they have an opportunity to make an impact. To make that impact, the company donates a percentage of their sales to nonprofit organizations that work to end human trafficking. She says they rotate who they give the money to by quarter, sometimes to those who make a local impact and others who operate on a larger scale.

What is ahead for the company?

Asked about plans for 2024, Lorenz said they are excited about the new year including expansions into new states and a brand refresh with “similar but fresh” looking new labels for the shelves. There will also be a new flavor debuting to add to their regular group of flavors called Mango Tango Tumeric.

Where can customers get Cultured?

Customers can find Cultured across Michigan and the Midwest. Lorenz says the drink is currently in about 500 different retail stores, mainly in the state of Michigan. They are in all Michigan Meijer stores and all corporate Spartan Nash stores as well. They’re also in a variety of independent stores including grocery outlets, restaurants, coffee shops and health food stores.