If you’ve read my blog for a while, you’ll know we’re fans of Kombucha in this house. We’ve even experimented in making our own and love fermentation with items like kefir, kimchi and sauerkraut often appearing in our kitchen. Whilst it’s great to make yourself though, it can be hit and miss which is why we’ve not made kombucha for a while. Enter REAL Kombucha.
REAL Kombucha is pretty special. It goes above and beyond the bottle you might grab from a deli or the flavoured versions on sale in the big supermarkets. Think of it as an alternative to wine, or a celebration drink to have along side a nice meal. Because they don’t add any flavouring at all, the flavours of the tea blends they use really shine through.
Who’s behind REAL Kombucha?
The company was founded by David Begg in 2016. He loves food but didn’t drink too much and wanted to find a non-alcoholic drink he could pair with food. He discovered Kombucha and was hooked. Roll forward and he put together a small team including nutrition and tea experts and between them they experimented with 150 different teas until they came up with the teas we see here today.
What is kombucha?
Kombucha is a fermented tea drink made with sugar and tea with a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast. This culture is known as a Scoby. This is a weird alien type looking jelly disc which floats at the top of the liquid. This grows and splits over time to produce more Scobies. These can be shared with friends and used to create more kombucha! The yeast eats the sugar in the tea (just like in bread, beer and wine) and the bacteria eat the tea. Sounds rank right? It’s really not, it’s actually a very natural thing which is thought to be a probiotic and very good for your tummy.
People have been making and drinking it for thousands of years. And now, we’re very lucky that companies like REAL kombucha are making it easy for us to drink really good stuff without the hassle of making it ourselves!
Tasting notes
At the moment, REAL kombucha have three varieties available. I was lucky to be sent all three to try at home and so, I thought I’d share my thoughts.
Royal Flush
This was the first we tried and I think, my favourite. I picked up an apple-y flavour which made it feel almost like a cloudy cider with that earthy aftertaste. The bottle talks about hints of white peach and rhubarb and I definitely picked those up too. It’s made with first flush darjeeling tea which comes from the first tips growing in Spring. Plus, the name reflects the first flush Darjeeling tea’s nickname – Queen of Teas.
We finished this bottle with a big bowl of carbonara and I have to say, it paired really well and definitely felt like an upgrade from squash or water. Given that it was a Tuesday night, we weren’t drinking wine and we didn’t miss it!
Iron Goddess – limited edition
I was really lucky to try this one as it’s a limited edition seasonal special with a run of just 1000 bottles. The tea in this brew is called Tie Guan Yin and comes from the Fujian province in China and translates to Iron Goddess of Mercy – hence the name! The flavour is delicate but fruity.
The tea has hints of apple, honey, prune and dried apricot. These flavours make it a perfect alternative to wine for the festive season as I’m sure it’ll pair beautifully with turkey, stuffing and poultry dishes. Despite the light and fruity flavour profile, this is the darkest brew of the three and really does feel like you’re having a sophisticated alternative to an alcoholic beverage! In fact, I’m going to stock up for Christmas!
Dry Dragon
Another really lovely brew which lasted less than a day before we finished it! This one is made from a pan-roasted green tea from Zhejiang, China. I love green tea and could definitely pick up the roasted flavour on my palette after the initial citrusy flavour. It’s really amazing how much flavour these kombuchas punch despite having nothing added beyond the flavours within the tea. In other words, I am so impressed!
Find out more
If this has piqued your interest, head to the REAL Kombucha website to learn more and buy direct. You’ll also find them in places like Waitrose, on Ocado, Selfridges and Whole Foods.
Plus, over on my podcast, I’ve been lucky enough to chat to Sandor Katz, a leading expert in fermentation. In this episode, we cover Kombucha among other fermented foods and drinks. He talks about the science behind the fermentation process too which is really interesting!
