Fancy a cup of kombucha anyone..?
An independent producer has started brewing kombucha from one of Sunderland’s most historic buildings.
A fermented tea drink hailed for its probiotic properties, kombucha has risen in popularity in recent years and John C hilton is among the first to be making it for sale in the area.
From a shared unit with the Sunshine Co-operative in the historic Eagle Building in the East End, John has perfected the recipe for his Funk Kombucha drink which he brews using tea from Estate Tea Company in Gateshead.
John juggles the fermenting and brewing with his day job working in IT for Durham Police. He began learning about brewing when he and a friend went into business in 2017 making gluten-free beer using facilities at Brewlab in Sunderland and Castle Eden Brewery. Although the product was well received, it was expensive to make.
“On a visit to Crate brewery in Hackney they gave us some cans of beer and some kombucha, which I’d never heard of,” he explained.
“When we came back to the North-East the kombu cha went in the fridge and it wasn’t until I had nothing else left to drink that I opened it.
“I thought it was amazing and couldn’t believe I hadn’t tried it before.”
Kombucha has become a popular alternative to processedfizzy drinks because it’ s still sparkling but its probiotic bacteria, a product of fermentation, is better for gut health.
It’s also a drink suitable for vegans.
So impressed with the distinctive taste and benefits of the drink, John set about learning how to make it with a process similar to beer brewing.
He travelled to Montreal for a course and came up with the name for his brand.
“On the course we spoke a lot about how funky the kombu cha looks duringthe smell being funky, so I played around with that and came up with the name,” explained John who lives in Cleadon.
Kombucha contains a very small amount of alcohol, produced as part of the process, but John ferments his for longer to decrease the alcohol content to less than half a percent. Funk Kombucha is available through Sunshine Co-operative deliveries at https://www.sunshinecooperative.co.uk/ or you can pick bottles up in person from the Port Bierhaus beer shop within Port Independent in St Thomas Street.