I bottled 20 litres of kombucha yesterday with ginger and lemongrass. It'll be very fizzy and ready to drink in 3-5 days. Costs next to nothing and quite healthy - water, black tea, sugar, (gifted and self-reproducing) scoby. The flavourings are what costs most, depending on what you use.
Kombucha is the best "natural" soft drink for me, too. It's not entirely sugar-free, though (even though you can get it to low-sugar with longer fermentation).
I'm not concerned with sugar-free. I drink maybe 500ml per day, and otherwise consume ZERO added sugar. And It's surely a small fraction of the sugar in soda, fruit juices etc... I also like it sour/highly fermented
Yeah I do ginger beer! There's plenty of recipes online. Simplified version:
Combine ginger + sugar + water in a quart jar. Let it sit for 3-7 days, covered but open, at room temp. Will stary to bubble. These are your live ginger yeasties, or ginger bug.
Boil a big batch of ginger tea (more ginger + sugar + water). Cool to <100F, add ginger bug. Strain. Bottle in plastic bottles (glass explodes on me sometimes). Ready in 3-7 days. Gets boozy if you leave it out longer.
Add a little citric acid and/or lemon juice at tea step to give it a little acid to counteract the funk.
