Frequently asked questions

Put what you want in your basket and click ‘Checkout’. You land on a secure payment page where you fill in your address, choose how to pay and confirm with ‘Pay’. Your order confirmation arrives by e-mail straight away.

Visa and Mastercard, debit or credit, plus Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal and Klarna (Pay in 3). The payment page is run by Stripe, so we never see or store your card details. The full picture is on delivery and payment.

Yes, with Klarna. Choose Klarna on the payment page and pick ‘Pay in 3’ if it's offered to you: the total is split into three instalments. Klarna then sends you the dates and amounts directly.

Yes. Every price is a final price in pounds sterling, VAT included. Standard tracked delivery is £4.90, and free from £35; express tracked delivery is £14.90. Whatever you choose, the delivery charge shows in your basket before you pay.

When an offer is running, type the code into the discount field on the payment page. Seasonal discounts come off automatically, and you'll see them before you pay. Sign up to the newsletter and you get 10% off your first order.

E-mail us as quickly as you can with your name and the e-mail address you ordered with. If the parcel hasn't left yet, we'll change or cancel the order, no problem.

Yes, as a PDF by e-mail. If you need an invoice in a company's name, send us the company name and VAT number.

Standard tracked delivery costs £4.90, and delivery is free from £35. Express tracked delivery costs £14.90, whatever the size of the order. The water kefir and kombucha set together with the ginger beer plant, for example, takes you past £35.

We dispatch within 24 to 48 hours on working days. With standard tracked delivery, the parcel then reaches you in 3 to 6 working days, with Royal Mail bringing it to your door for the last stretch. With express tracked delivery it's 3 to 5 working days. Bank holidays can add a day or so.

Yes, to England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, at the same prices. This shop delivers within the United Kingdom only.

Not at the moment: every parcel comes to your door, or to the address of your choice. The parcel is small and often fits through the letterbox, so being out is rarely a problem.

If it doesn't fit through the letterbox, Royal Mail leaves a card telling you where to collect it or how to rebook delivery. The cultures are happy to spend a few extra days in their pouch. Double-check your postcode so the parcel finds you first time.

Yes. On the payment page you can enter a separate delivery address: your workplace, or the person you're giving it to as a present.

Yes. The grains and the SCOBY travel in their own liquid, in well-sealed pouches, and get back to work in the first batch. Open the parcel as soon as it arrives and follow the guide that comes with it.

Ideally, start a batch the same day. If that isn't possible, put the cultures in the fridge in their pouch: they'll wait two to three days. Every product comes with a guide, and you'll find everything in our guides too.

Years, if you feed them regularly. Water kefir grains, milk kefir grains and the ginger beer plant multiply, and a kombucha SCOBY grows a new layer with every batch.

Not at all. Water kefir and milk kefir take about two minutes a day, ginger beer much the same, kombucha about ten minutes a week. The guides explain every sign to look out for, and our team answers your questions. In a cool house in winter, a shelf in the airing cupboard keeps things moving.

It depends on what you like to drink. Our ferment finder tells you in 20 seconds. Most people start with water kefir grains, our best seller: the first litre is ready in 24 hours.

30 g makes 1 litre every 24 hours, which suits one or two people. 60 g makes 2 litres, for a family or two flavours on the go at once. The grains grow, so 30 g soon becomes more anyway.

Yes, they're all names for the same culture, used with sugar and water. Milk kefir grains are a different culture, made for milk: you'll find them as milk kefir grains, and the differences in water kefir or milk kefir? Our water kefir grains come in 30 g for 1 litre and 60 g for 2 litres per batch.

None: three names for the same culture. Our kombucha SCOBY comes with its starter liquid, ready for your first batch.

No, even if the grains look alike. Both are made with sugar water, but the ginger beer plant gives a spicier drink with a much livelier fizz, while water kefir is fruitier. The full comparison is in ginger beer or water kefir?

Yes, three. The water kefir and kombucha set brings together 30 g of water kefir grains and a SCOBY (you save £4), the kefir duo 30 g of water kefir grains and 20 g of milk kefir grains (you save £4), and the complete starter kit all three cultures (you save £7). All the options are on sets.

Yes. Our milk kefir grains come in 10 g for half a litre a day and 20 g for a litre, and work with ordinary whole or semi-skimmed milk from the shop. For cheese, a 50 ml bottle of liquid calf rennet sets 250 to 500 litres of milk. Both are delivered across the UK like the rest of the range.

A large glass jar, a clean tea towel or cloth with an elastic band, a sieve and, for the second fermentation, a swing-top bottle. Then, depending on the culture: cane sugar and a dried fig for water kefir, whole milk for milk kefir, black or green tea for kombucha, fresh ginger for ginger beer. For cheese, a large pan, a thermometer and a cheesecloth.

Like all homemade fermented drinks, they contain traces, usually under 1%. The shorter the fermentation and the sooner the bottle goes in the fridge, the less there is. More in How much alcohol is in kombucha?

Water kefir grains will wait up to two weeks in the fridge in fresh sugar water, changed after a week. The ginger beer plant rests the same way for one to two weeks. Milk kefir grains will wait up to a week in fresh milk, in a closed jar. The kombucha SCOBY stays at room temperature in its liquid, in a SCOBY hotel. More in caring for water kefir grains.

A few days in the fridge, well closed. It gets drier and more tart as time goes on, and the fizz keeps building, so open the bottle carefully. How to get the fizz just right is in the guide to the second fermentation.

A few days in the fridge, well closed. It gets more sour as time goes on. All the details are in How long does kefir keep?

Tightly closed in the fridge, at about 4°C. You only need a few drops per cheese: 1 to 2 ml for 10 litres of milk, so a 50 ml bottle of liquid calf rennet sets 250 to 500 litres.

Keep it in a SCOBY hotel as a back-up, start a second jar, or pass it on to someone who'd like to start. More ideas in too many SCOBYs?

Not at all. Well-fermented kombucha makes a mild vinegar for dressings, and kombucha too sour explains how to get the next batch just right.

Send us a photo and we'll look at it together. Most of the time it's the temperature or the sugar, and you'll have the fix straight away. If the culture itself is at fault, we send a new one or refund you. That's our guarantee, set out on returns and guarantee.

E-mail us with your name and, for a damaged parcel, a photo. We follow it up with the carrier and send the right product again or refund you, at no cost to you.

As a rule, you have 14 days from delivery to cancel without giving a reason. Live cultures are perishable goods that deteriorate quickly, so the right to cancel does not apply to them once they've been delivered. Our satisfaction guarantee covers them instead, in every case. The details, and the cancellation form, are on returns.

Through the contact form or by e-mail at hello@natural-probio.com. We reply within one working day, Monday to Friday.