Kombucha Girl

Origin

On August 6th, 2019, TikTok user @brittany_broski — real name Brittany Tomlinson — posted a video of herself trying kombucha for the first time. She remarks that it "smells like a public restroom," takes a sip, and her expression runs rapidly from disgust through curiosity to something like grudging acceptance. That brief sequence of faces became reaction material on its own.

Tomlinson was 22 at the time, from Dallas, Texas, freshly graduated from Texas A&M and working as a banker. She had only just started on TikTok: per Know Your Meme's account, her first video, posted July 16th, 2019, described a "depression meal" of apple slices and chocolate chips.

Spread

The numbers moved fast. The kombucha video passed 1.8 million likes and 336,300 shares within three days, and her TikTok following reached 1.5 million within four months.

What gave the meme staying power is its structure rather than its subject. One person cycles through contradictory reactions in a few seconds, which lets the clip stand in for the whole experience of being unable to make up your mind — which is why it attaches just as well to situations that have nothing to do with kombucha.

Her own description runs the same way. In an interview with Vulture, Tomlinson called the kombucha experience a "disappointing pleasure," answering the question of whether she would drink it again with: "Probably. Will I like it? Probably not. Will I keep drinking it? Yes, most likely."

Afterward

The video made Tomlinson one of TikTok's earliest breakout stars. She went on to comedy built around impressions of Love Island contestants and southern American mothers, moved into merchandise partnerships and launched a YouTube channel. Mainstream outlets followed, with interviews in The New York Times and The Hollywood Reporter.

How it is used

• As a reaction video for not being able to decide whether something is good or bad
• As a figure for the things you claim to dislike and keep doing anyway
• As a reaction image for complicated feelings about a first encounter
• As the standard example when discussing TikTok's earliest viral moments

Sources

• Know Your Meme, "Kombucha Girl / Brittany Broski" — the August 6th, 2019 upload, the account, 1.8 million likes and 336,300 shares in three days, 1.5 million followers in four months, her first video on July 16th, 2019, her circumstances at the time, and her later career
• Parade, "Brittany Broski Was Once Known as 'Kombucha Girl'" — coverage of where she went after the meme