Kefir Tonics & Vegan Kefir

Fruity, aromatic, bubbly and refreshingly different, THGC kefir tonics are full of beneficial bacteria and enzymes. I asked Julie at Cultures for Health about her opinion and this is what she shared: Powdered packets should work with coconut milk but since they are in a dairy carrier, they're not really going to be an improvement on the grains and it's questionable how well they will re-culture (using a small amount from the previous batch to make the next batch) making them potentially a costly option.
If you require a truly dairy-free option, Cultures for Health has the wonderful suggestion of mixing 1⁄4 cup (60 ml) finished fermented water kefir (not the grains) with 2 to 4 cups (475 to 946 ml) coconut milk, and then allowing it to ferment for 24 hours.



Kefir can be made using freeze-dried cultures commonly available in powder form from health food stores A portion of the resulting kefir can be saved to be used a number of times to propagate further fermentations but ultimately does not form grains.
Best sources include raw full fat dairy, raw egg yolk from cage free pastured chicken (heat destroys B6), sprouted grains, raw meat and salmon, onions, sweet potato, lacto- fermented foods (these foods increase the bacteria in your gut which produce vitamin B6).
In addition to bacteria, kefir often contains strains of yeast that can metabolize lactose, such as Kluyveromyces marxianus , Kluyveromyces lactis , and Saccharomyces fragilis , as well as strains of yeast that do not metabolize lactose, including Saccharomyces cerevisiae , Torulaspora delbrueckii , and Kazachstania unispora 11 The nutritional significance of these strains is unknown.

We know that fermented foods, or foods rich in natural probiotics, are good for our gut. The question of what constitutes a healthy diet: 1) generally, the less a food is processed the better. Whether you are vegan or lactose-intolerant, you can enjoy the same kefir taste without cow's milk.
Set the coconut milk aside and let culture for 24 hours. As long as you already have enough grains to make the quantity of coconut milk kefir you require, then it is not really a problem anyway. Do the same thing as you do with coconut milk for about 2 cycles before returning the grains to making Coconut Milk Kefir again.
I don't know about sugar content for kefir, but it is great to drink by itself. Kefir is a probiotic product originally fermented from dairy milk and consumed for longevity in goat kefir East Europe. An adjustment period isn't uncommon whenever kefir grains are switched from one type of milk to another (cow to goat, pasteurized to raw, dairy to coconut, etc.).