Eastern promise

Will kombucha tea from Suffolk change the way we drink?

AS COUNTIES GO, Suffolk couldn’t get more foodie. At the annual Aldeburgh Food & Drink Festival two weeks ago, which showcased over 100 producers from across the region, there were more distilleries, bakeries and coffee suppliers than one could shake a sustainably sourced sausage roll at. It made for delicious browsing.

Just a little further south on a former American airbase near Rendlesham, one of those creators knocks up bottles of kombucha that are just as easy on the eye as they are the stomach. LA Brewery founder Louise Avery first tried kombucha, the on-trend fermented tea, in Vermont eight years ago. ‘There, health-food stores would serve at least three flavours on tap,’ she tells me. Back here, it was nowhere to be seen. She had no inkling of its health benefits then, but loved the taste – sour, sweet, slightly dry and fizzy all at the same time. ‘I immediately thought: Haribo! Just like the sweets, kombucha gives you a slight shiver as you drink it.’

Avery started to make it at home and now turns out flavoured versions based on a ratio of 80 per cent green tea to 20 per cent black, infused variously with root ginger, lemongrass, and strawberry and black pepper. She’s riding the wave of the nutritionally beneficial fermentation buzz, but actually hopes her tinctures will appeal more as booze-free drinks, since they produce complex flavours without additives or sweeteners. ‘There’s so much more to experiment with,’ adds Avery. We’ll drink to that.