We started making kefir because we could not buy it.

Our child had been struggling with gut issues since he was an infant, and over time it had gotten worse, manifesting in extreme anxiety. We discovered that not only was it affecting our child, it was also affecting the both of us, as we discovered that we had the same issues affecting our mental clarity: anxiety, panic, a short fuse, fights that came out of nowhere.

Around 2015, a close family friend who had gone through much of the same issues told us that the problem was in our diet. He suggested a diet of low sugars, high fibre and kefir for the both of us, highlighting basic daily consumption of a glass of kefir for our child.

This change in diet helped us to regain our clarity and peace of mind, and most especially, the daily servings of kefir helped our child drastically improve his gut issues and anxieties. Genuinely, and more than we expected.

The problem was getting hold of it. Nothing near us sold it, so getting a kefir meant a trip out of town. What did turn up locally either tasted wrong or simply was not there. And it was expensive.

So around 2018 we started making our own, beginning with the grains themselves. We bought kefir grains from overseas and worked out how to revive them and keep them going. Tika is a microbiologist, and she spent the next years acquiring the highest quality kefir grains available to develop our formula. Through laboratory testing alongside traditional fermentation methods, she derived the most optimal formula for kefir: a balanced taste and quality that we all enjoyed, with a lot of family and friends telling us honestly what they thought.

What we were after was a kefir that is not too sour, not too sweet and not too fizzy, with true health benefits. By 2019 what we were making at home was better than anything we could buy, and that year Blessverage became a company.

Blessverage started with Roby and Tika, and friends helped shape it: carrying it into their own networks, and giving it a look and a voice in the early years.

The culture we ferment with today is the same one we started with, kept alive without a break since 2019. It is still made the way it was when it was only ever meant for our own family.