I often wonder about the topic of sugar in kombucha. First of all, I don’t drink kombucha if sparkling water is listed as an ingredient. Some brands are misleading by selling a flavored sparkling tea and labeling it kombucha. What I want to believe is that they (actual kombucha brands) must account for the sugar they put in on the nutrition facts, but it’s been consumed by the scoby and therefore our body doesn’t process it the same way as, say, a handful of Skittles. I’m not really sure though. I like to think kombucha is doing my body a service and keeping the gut in check so I try not to worry too hard about the sugar.
It would just have to do with how they want to sell it for taste. When you brew kombucha, you mix tea with sugar and then add the scoby to it. During the fermentation process, the scoby eats the sugar and the longer you let it brew, the less sugar and more tart it will be.
Kombucha sugar is volatile due to the fermentation the stated sugar is generally higher