Kombucha is a fermented beverage whose culture is derived from mycelium, which is a fungus. Aajonus explained that kombucha is supposed to be the mushroom from the mycelium. The mycelium itself is a milky substance that eats away dead roots in the ground, it could be grass roots, tree roots, or bush roots. That is the fundamental nature of what kombucha is: a fungal organism that feeds on dead substances that are root-based. Aajonus pointed out that if you see a tree that has fallen and come back to it years later, you will see this milky substance eating under the bark, that is the mycelium eating on the tree under the bark. And then when you see a mushroom blossom, that is the reproductive cycle of the mycelium.

Kombucha, in the standard form in which it is made and consumed, is grown on cooked substances, specifically on sugar and boiled tea. This is the central problem Aajonus identified with it: kombucha lives on dead things, and because it requires a dead, cooked substrate to thrive in its conventional preparation, the entire host medium is processed and denatured before the culture is ever introduced. The mushroom culture is still put into it, and it still works and produces fermentation, but the substrate upon which it is feeding and the resulting beverage are fundamentally compromised in Aajonus's view.

Aajonus held a consistently negative view of standard commercial kombucha throughout his career, calling the culture itself mutated and diseased. However, he did discuss theoretical and occasionally observed possibilities for making a raw version, along with specific substrates that could make it more acceptable, though even the raw versions came with significant warnings.

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Aajonus explained kombucha's activity through the lens of mycelium. In the body, the mycelium-type activity of kombucha, if the culture is sound and the substrate is appropriate, can potentially help eat the dry, dead nerve endings, capillary endings, and any kind of veins that distribute throughout the body and have dried and died. He gave as a specific example people with MS, saying the mycelium activity of kombucha could theoretically help eat those dried, dead tissues. This is because mycelium, in nature, only eats dead matter, not living roots, it is selective for dead tissue.

Aajonus stated that kombucha can act as a mineral supplement for people who eat cooked foods. In the same way that there are funguses that help human beings digest cheese and dairy products, funguses that exist in the intestines and that support dairy digestion, kombucha can act in that role. It can help in digestion in a manner analogous to the fungal assistance that supports dairy breakdown.

One of Aajonus's most emphatic and repeated clinical observations about kombucha was that it is profoundly drying to the system. He observed this in multiple individuals personally and over extended periods of study. He described it as drying out the system, with specific emphasis on the brain and everything from the neck up. He stated that it especially dries out the brain.

When combined with the presence of heavy metals in the brain, which Aajonus considered a common modern burden, the drying caused by kombucha could, in his assessment, lead to strokes, dementia, and all kinds of problems. He said directly: "The dryness on top of the metals in the brain, you could be in trouble. Strokes, dementia, all kinds of problems."

One of Aajonus's most frequently cited negative outcomes from kombucha consumption was hair loss. He documented this in his observational study of kombucha users from 1988 through 1993, a period of approximately four to five years during which he worked with a group of twelve people. He reported that most of the men in this group lost their hair. This was not a minor or occasional finding in his clinical experience but a pattern he observed consistently across the majority of male participants in this group.

He also confirmed this in written correspondence, stating that he had seen kombucha cause severe hair loss.

Aajonus documented that the people in his observational group had so much bad digestion and gas with everything they ate while consuming kombucha. He described the gas as hanging up in the drapes and being all over the houses. He stated he had to wear a mask when he would go into those houses to see how they were doing, while the people who lived there had simply become accustomed to living in it.

In his written correspondence, he confirmed that he had seen kombucha cause terrible gastrointestinal issues.

Aajonus specifically contextualized the severity of kombucha's negative effects in relation to the diet of the person consuming it. The group he observed from 1988–1993 were mainly vegetarians who ate very little meat. This dietary context, he implied, was a major factor in how destructive the kombucha proved to be. He stated explicitly: "You better be eating a diet that allows you to regenerate and to handle fungus or else kombucha is going to knock you out, you're going to lose hair."

The implication is that someone on a nutrient-dense, raw-animal-food diet would have more capacity to handle the fungal activity, but even then, kombucha remained something he did not endorse.

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The standard kombucha, which Aajonus identified as the form virtually everyone was making and consuming, is grown on sugar and boiled tea. The substance is heated, and it is also made with sugar, completely processed and denatured. Aajonus considered this form problematic primarily because the substrate is cooked and dead before the culture is introduced, meaning the culture itself is shaped by and fed on dead, processed matter.

Beyond the substrate issue, Aajonus made a more radical statement about the kombucha culture itself. When asked whether the culture was bad even if it were added to raw juices, he answered without qualification: it is mutated and diseased. This is an important distinction. The problem is not only that it is made with cooked substrate, the culture itself, as it is propagated and exists in the world, is in Aajonus's view mutated and diseased, making even its addition to otherwise raw preparations problematic.

Aajonus acknowledged that some people claim you can make a raw kombucha, and he explored what that would require. Because kombucha lives on dead things, the key to making a genuinely raw version lies in finding a substrate that is both raw and dry, because kombucha requires something that is dead or in a dried, inert state to feed on.

He identified three specific substrates that could theoretically support a raw kombucha:

1. Crystallizing dry honey, Honey that is crystallizing and becoming dry. He noted this would work because when honey is in this dry, crystalline state, it can serve as a dead-enough substrate for the kombucha culture to feed on. He acknowledged the complexity of this, because in his written communication he had also stated that honey is not dry or dead, expressing uncertainty about whether honey-based raw kombucha as claimed by some practitioners actually works.

2. Completely dry fruit, Fruit that has been dried completely. He said you can take a fruit that has been completely dried, put it in there, and the kombucha will feed on it. He called these versions a better kombucha for you.

3. Dry meat / beef jerky, He stated: "You can take dry meat, beef jerky, put it in there, and that would make a good kombucha for you." This is perhaps his most distinctive suggestion, that a meat-based, dried-substrate kombucha would be among the better versions.

He framed these raw versions as preferable specifically because they involve dead-dry rather than cooked-dead substrates, but his overall recommendation remained negative.

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Aajonus identified the standard preparation method as the root cause of the problem: the substance, tea, is boiled, meaning it is completely cooked. Sugar is added, which is completely processed and denatured. This creates a dead, processed medium. The kombucha mushroom culture is then put into this dead medium and fed on it.

He noted that a scientist claiming that kombucha won't work unless you cook the substance was, in his view, another lie from a scientist who is selling his kombucha. He indicated that mushrooms can in fact work in a raw context, calling the insistence on cooking another commercially motivated distortion.

In the workshop transcripts, Aajonus discussed honey as a possible raw substrate for kombucha, specifically honey that is crystallizing and becoming dry. However, in his written email correspondence from September 2011, he expressed uncertainty about honey-based raw kombucha, stating: "Some people claim that they can make it with honey, no sugar and no cooking, but I do not know how. Honey is not dry or dead." This represents a direct tension in his recorded statements, in the workshop he described crystallizing dry honey as workable, while in the correspondence he expressed doubt and noted that honey is not dry or dead. Both statements are present in the record and are not reconciled.

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There is no specific fat-pairing protocol that Aajonus described as required for consuming kombucha in the way that, for example, raw fat is required to buffer other foods in his system. However, Aajonus repeatedly implied that having adequate dietary fat was a protective factor against the worst effects of kombucha.

In one workshop exchange, he pointed to a participant with significant body fat and said directly: "Just think if you had eaten all that kombucha and not had that fat. You probably had a stroke a few times already and be in dementia." This statement implies that dietary fat, specifically body fat accumulated from a fat-inclusive diet, had been a buffer against the drying and neurological damage that kombucha was causing in that individual.

This is not a pairing instruction in the sense of a therapeutic protocol, but it reflects Aajonus's view that fat stores provided meaningful protection against the desiccating effects of kombucha consumption.

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In his observational study group from 1988 to 1993, the twelve people he was studying were drinking approximately a quarter of a kombucha per day. He described this amount as very bad for them, producing hair loss in most of the men and severe gastrointestinal problems across the group. This was the dose at which he observed the chronic damage pattern.

Aajonus's position was not to establish a safe dose of standard kombucha but to recommend against consuming it at all. He did not establish a small-but-acceptable amount. When asked if he approved of it in any form, he said no.

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While Aajonus did not provide a step-by-step recipe with precise measurements for making raw kombucha, he identified the specific substrates that could theoretically support a raw version:

• Crystallizing dry honey, described as something you can take when it is crystallizing and becoming dry, add it to the kombucha culture, and it will work.
• Completely dried fruit, any fruit that has been dried completely can serve as a substrate for the kombucha culture.
• Beef jerky / dry meat, he specifically cited this as making a good kombucha, noting that dry meat placed in the preparation with the culture would result in a better kombucha.

He called these versions a better kombucha for you compared to the standard sugar-and-boiled-tea preparation, specifically because the substrate is raw-dry rather than cooked.

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Aajonus directly addressed the claim that kombucha will not work unless you cook the substance. He called this another lie from another scientist who is selling his kombucha. His point was that this claim was commercially motivated, a scientist with a product to sell propagating misinformation to justify the cooking step. He maintained that mushrooms can work in a raw context and that the insistence on a cooked substrate was not biologically necessary but commercially convenient.

Aajonus documented that he worked with a group of twelve people consuming kombucha from 1988 through 1993, a period of approximately four to five years. He observed them systematically. The findings he reported from this study were:

• Most of the men lost their hair
• The group experienced so much bad digestion
• They had gas with everything they ate
• The gas was severe enough that he had to wear a mask when entering their homes
• The participants were mainly vegetarians eating very little meat

He stated that based on what he saw with this whole group for four years, he concluded: "this is not a good thing. Not a good thing at all."

This observational period and this group formed the empirical foundation of his negative assessment of kombucha.

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