It’s best to start with a bit of background. Kombucha is a combined yeast and bacterial fermentation of sweet tea. What does that mean? Well, the yeast part you’ll have experienced in beer or wine. Yeast converts the sugars in the brew to alcohol and you get a rich yeasty, musty flavour. If we just put yeast in our sweet tea we would make a tea beer, and (if I’m honest) that in itself would taste pretty good as well.

Almost as good as our kombucha by Laurent Ginger flavour.

But kombucha doesn’t stop at beer. The healthy bacteria then takes over and begins to eat up most of the alcohol (and some more of the sugar) and convert it into beneficial acids.

This is pretty much like the vinegar making process except that, in kombucha, there is a mix of acids that are much softer than the acetic acid in vinegar. So with a good kombucha, you get a good bite without the pucker face.

On top of all that there is the effect of the tea itself. Most kombucha brands use a fairly basic tea to brew their base or ‘original’ kombucha. However, at kombucha by Laurent we use very special hand-picked fine teas, Organic off course, chosen specifically for their rich individual characters. So the flavour of each of the resulting Kombucha by Laurent  tastes is very dependent upon the tea we use.

How do we characterise them?

Organic Oolong  kombucha

Oolong teas tend to produce a flavour that is very close to a light dry cider: rich, full of fruity and apply flavours with a good acidic bite. Kombucha by Laurent has in every great flavour is made from the Organic Oolong teas from China, which in addition have a lovely earthy, natural and malty undertone.

White tea kombucha

White teas are light, fresh and very delicate. Consequently, white tea kombuchas tend to be light and aromatic, with almond and vanilla flavours. At the moment we have chosen not to use white tea in our kombuchas.

Green tea kombucha

Fine green teas, when brewed well, can produce a very delicate kombucha with flavours of grass and lemon. Green teas are the closest to a soft drink. Kombucha by Laurent is brewed from  organic Sencha green tea from the best region in Japan– richer and more leafy than most green teas, which brings out some more complex flavours.

Don’t take my word for any of this, of course. I’ll never be able to adequately describe the pleasure of downing a bottle of kombucha by Laurent elderflower  after a great bike ride, or a warm evening in a garden with friends. What does kombucha taste like? Get stuck in and find out for yourself.