Tempest In A Tea Bottle
Forbes|May 31, 2019

George Thomas Dave convinced America to love a tangy, tart, fermented beverage from Asia called kombucha—and it made him a billionaire. His greater challenge: surviving the rush of competitors flooding a market he once had all to himself.

Chloe Sorvino
Tempest In A Tea Bottle

Before entering his kingdom, George Thomas Dave dons his crown—a blue hairnet pulled over a fashionably short buzz cut. He pushes open the doors of his year-old factory, releasing a gust of cold air and the scent of vinegar. The interior is all steel and fluorescence, light glinting offDave’s diamond-sheathed Rolex, the metallic studs on his dress shoes and the platinum rings on his forefinger, ring finger and little finger.

Winding his way through the place, he watches a batch of his bestselling organic ginger kombucha get pumped into 16-ounce glass bottles, 100 at time. Each has a white label touting the fermented tea’s ingredients (electrolytes, probiotics, enzymes) and purported benefits (reawaken, rebirth, renewal). Dave reaches the end of the 200-foot bottling line, where four robotic arms fill, stack and move cases of kombucha. He spent $40 million building in Vernon, California, 5 miles south of Los Angeles, allowing him to produce more than 1 million gallons a year. “This is the next level for us,” says the impeccably cheekboned Dave, known as “GT” since before he began brewing kombucha at his mother’s kitchen table.

This story is from the May 31, 2019 edition of Forbes.

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This story is from the May 31, 2019 edition of Forbes.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.