Spokane native expanding Huney Jun kombucha company, now offering products in local stores

More than three years after launching Leavenworth-based Huney Jun, Spokane native Beau Carrillo is bringing the company’s kombucha to local stores.

Huney Jun, which specializes in jun kombucha made with green tea and honey instead of the traditional blend of black tea and cane sugar, is coming to store shelves at Rosauers Supermarkets later this month. It is already sold at My Fresh Basket, Main Market Co-op and the Rocket Market on the South Hill, in addition to other retailers statewide.

“We sell out in stores in Seattle all the time, and we are really hoping to do the same in Spokane,” said Carrillo, CEO and co-founder of Huney Jun.

Carrillo, a Mt. Spokane High School and Washington State University graduate, began brewing jun kombucha in his kitchen in 2017 with Molly Hemler, co-founder and president of the company.

They discovered that jun kombucha had what they believed to be a better flavor profile than traditional kombucha, Carrillo said.

“It’s easier to drink and it has a healthier sugar source,” he said. “We were really passionate about it from the start, and adding plant medicines into the jun really just made an incredibly unique beverage, and we just ran with it.”

The jun kombucha brewing process, which takes about a week, starts with cold-brewed green tea. Scoby – or symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast – and organic raw honey are infused into the mixture, which ferments for a few days and is then transferred to steel tanks where organic herbs, botanicals and juices are added. The jun is fermented a second time and then bottled for sale.

“We thought our idea of the perfect probiotic beverage was one that incorporated holistic stress-reducing and immune-boosting herbs and mushrooms,” Carrillo said. “We really wanted to incorporate those ingredients into our jun.”

Huney Jun gained popularity at farmers markets and the company raised a round of investor funding to build a brewing facility in Peshastin, Washington, in 2017. They began distributing Huney Jun, which comes in several flavors including lavender berry, pear lime and ginger sarsaparilla, to retailers across the state in 2018.

Since then, Huney Jun has increased the size of its zero-waste brewery twice, now encompassing more than 5,000 square feet, and expanded its distribution to retailers in Oregon, Montana and California.

“It was a slow progression. It took time. We wanted to focus on Washington and Oregon to start, and now we are expanding to California and Montana,” said Carrillo, adding that Huney Jun will be sold at Whole Foods in Northern California beginning in August and has attracted interest from Costco and Fred Meyer.

Huney Jun had its kombucha tested by a third-party lab and found it contained pharmaceutical-grade probiotics, including two dominant strains of lactobacillus paracasei and lactobacillus plantarum, known for promoting digestion, reducing inflammation and increasing energy, Carrillo said.

Carrillo discovered his love for health and wellness as a mountain guide in South America and Alaska. He was employed as a sales director for Bellingham-based Kombucha Town in 2014 before launching Huney Jun.

Carrillo, a cancer survivor, said he believes jun kombucha’s probiotic properties improved his health.

“I feel like it helped in my healing,” Carrillo said. “It’s special to me to have it in the Spokane area, where I feel such a connection to home.”

Huney Jun, which relies on raw honey to produce jun kombucha, has donated 1% of its revenue toward pollinator research at Washington State University. It also supports nonprofits such as Leavenworth-based Wasteloop, which recycles waste into new materials.

The company is considering Spokane as a future home for a jun-specific café, Carrillo said.

“It’s a growing city that shows a lot of promise and has some cute neighborhoods that we love,” he said.

Huney Jun, which has seven employees, will expand into a 10,000-square-foot facility near Leavenworth in late 2021 to meet growing demand for its product.

“Our plan to continue to grow, and one day be a national brand. We see our product has national appeal, and buyers from some of the biggest retailers in the world are excited about it,” Carrillo said.

“We just want to keep on growing and want to offer jun to as many communities as we can.”“It’s special to me to have it in the Spokane area, where I feel such a connection to home.” Beau Carrillo Co-owner of Huney Jun

“It’s special to me to have it in the Spokane area, where I feel
such a connection to home.” Beau Carrillo Co-owner of Huney Jun