Launched in 2012 and based in Yorkshire, Equinox is one of the largest kombucha brewers in the UK and the winner of two Great Taste awards.

The brand’s organic kombuchas are available in five flavours but our favourite is the raspberry and elderflower. You can also choose from pink grapefruit and guava, Sicilian lemon, ginger and orange and yuzu.

Despite a fairly strong taste with distinctly more vinegar than some other brands, this was a favourite with our child testers, who were happy to quaff it in place of less-healthy options.

The glass bottles are easy to recycle – just be sure to give the bottle a gentle shake before enjoying, as the natural sediment from the Scoby (symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast) will have sunk to the bottom of the bottle.

The individual bottles were also the most competitively priced on test and the tasty flavours and organic vegan-friendly ingredients earned Equinox kombucha the title of best overall drink.

If you’re dipping your toe into the world of fermented drinks for the first time, you can’t go wrong with One Living. The brand’s cans of sparkling kombucha are affordable and taste great.

The raspberry kombucha with pomegranate was our favourite but the brand offers a range of flavours – from passionfruit to ginger – as well as blends with added adaptogens for focus, immunity and calm.

Created by Jonny Wilkinson, the gut-friendly brand adds B vitamins to its unpasteurised sparkling drinks, for an extra health hit, and doesn’t add any sugar to its recipes, so you can be sure the friendly bacteria in each can isn’t compromised.

The cans are easy to drink on the go and make a great healthy alternative to fizzy sugary drinks that can throw off your microbiome.

An A-list favourite, this organic Portuguese brand has supposedly found fans in Madonna, Gwyneth Paltrow and Justin Bieber.

We found some of the flavours a little odd, and the plastic bottle wasn’t appealing. However, the ginger lemon variety had a refreshing zing and strong, ginger-beer like kick. “A good choice, perhaps, if you’re looking for an alcohol alternative, or the perfect drink to complement a spicy meal.” says gut-health expert Hannah Ebelthite.

At £3.19 for a 400ml bottle, it’s not the cheapest drink on this list but is a great option to have at home in your fridge in place of a family-sized bottle of fizzy pop.

The Gutsy Captain’s kombucha is also vegan-friendly, organic and doesn’t contain any preservatives.

Biotiful Dairy is the UK’s biggest kefir brand and each bottle of the white stuff contains more than 40 strains of bacteria.

There are no added sugars and, as with all kefirs, most of the lactose in these drinks is consumed during the fermentation process, so those who are looking to swerve lactose will still benefit from a gut-healthy hit. However, they are dairy-based drinks and therefore not suitable for vegans.

Drink the plain kefir on its own (the flavour is mild and tangy), add to smoothies or use it anywhere in place of yoghurt or cream – it’s especially good in salad dressings.

If the tangy flavour of plain kefir isn’t to your liking, there are a ton of flavours to choose from, including strawberry, peach, vanilla chai and our fitness and wellbeing editor’s personal favourite: blossom honey.

Biotiful also now offers kefir with added protein for those keen to hit their daily nutrient goals. These protein drinks contain 20g of protein per bottle, so will see you well on your way to your protein quota before or after a heavy gym sesh.

Finally, a healthy alternative to fizzy pop. Lo Bros is an Australian brand that specialises in “living sodas”.

Our favourite of its kombucha drinks is the kombucha cola. According to Ebelthite, “It tastes like old fashioned cola-bottle sweets, without the cloying sensation and huge sugar hit you get from classic cola (or the metallic aftertaste of a diet version).”

The packaging is bright and retro and the huge range of flavours is enticing. However, this is not a pure ’booch. Instead, it’s a blend of kombucha, raw apple cider vinegar and botanical spices and citrus extracts. So, it still packs a gut-healthy punch.

It would look equally at home at a kids’ party or in a hipster bar and is a great healthy vegan drink to enjoy on the go, from a bottle or a can.

This goat’s milk kefir is described by the makers as a medicinal product and comes with clear instructions on building up your dose gradually (from a tablespoon to 170ml daily), to get your body used to the powerful range of bacteria therein.

It’s live and unpasteurised, and continues to ferment in the bottle, producing more and more cultures, so, open it with extreme care.

“Chuckling Goat came about when Welsh goat farmer Shann Nix Jones started exploring the beneficial effects of kefir when used externally on inflammatory skin conditions like acne, eczema, psoriasis and rosacea, and the internal benefits for IBS, depression and anxiety,” explains Ebelthite.

Using goat’s milk rather than cow’s is thought to be easier on digestion and the “fizzy feta” flavour might soon be the highlight of your morning. If not, though, we recommend blending it into a smoothie with some fruit.

A three-week course is recommended, and you can save £5 with a subscription for a delivery every three weeks. This takes a little of the sting out of the price, as it’s £50 for four 900ml bottles, so not the most affordable option in our line-up.

Known for its luxury yoghurt range, New Zealand company The Collective has expanded to include kefir drinks, boasting 13 bacteria strains and 60 billion cultures.

The drinks are available in three flavours as well as natural, and we were most impressed by the mango and turmeric option. If you’re not used to the sour taste of kefir, the mango perfectly masks it and the anti-inflammatory turmeric isn’t overpowering.

A delicious, moreish smoothie that would have the fussiest of kids thinking of this low-sugar, gut-healthy drink as a treat, it works well poured over fruit or cereal, too. Plus, it’s a good source of vitamins B2 and B12, as well as calcium and protein.

If you’re looking to try kefir but you don’t consume dairy, look no further than water kefir. This soda is a gut-friendly kefir that’s suitable for vegans and those following a dairy-free diet.

Available in two flavours, the cherry berry took the top spot for us but fans of citrus might prefer the kiwi mango flavour.

Along with friendly live cultures, the kefir grain fermentation process also provides vitamins and minerals along with antioxidants and organic acids that have gut-soothing, anti-inflammatory properties.

Unlike kombucha, this fizzy drink contains no caffeine and it’s also low in sugar, making these cans a healthy way to enjoy a can of soda and a simple way to boost gut health.

This craft kombucha comes in weighty glass bottles that have a luxury feel to them. One of our fitness and wellbeing editor’s go-to brands, LA brewery is a B-Corp Certified microbrewery based in Suffolk, UK – not Los Angeles, as you might imagine.

The brand says the tea used to make the kombucha comes from ethical tea farms and is lovingly turned into a gut-friendly drink in the UK. Our favourite flavour is the lemon ginger, which is rich and flavourful with a hint of chili.

This kombucha, like Equinox’s, has a purer, more vinegary taste than other brands and will need a little shake to get the floating Scoby pieces moving before drinking.

The bottles are easy to recycle and come in packs of 12, so you can stock up your fridge and enjoy them daily.

Another quality kefir brand that’s easy to find in supermarkets, Bio and Me specialises in dairy-based gut health drinks that taste great.

With no added sugar, each bottle contains 18 unique live culture strains and more than 100 billion gut-friendly cultures, so, it’s a safe and effective bet from an affordable drink.

Made using milk, it’s not suitable for vegans but for those who do consume dairy, it’s delicious alone or poured over cereal. Our favourite is the vanilla flavour, which is sweet and subtle, masking most of the tang without damaging the live cultures inside.

It’s also a good source of calcium and B vitamins, so makes for a promising way to start the day.