OUR PROCESS
The Basics
Traditional non-alcoholic kombucha is brewed by fermenting a sweet tea with a mixed culture of bacteria and yeast. The yeasts ferment the sugar and produce alcohol and then the bacteria turn the alcohol into organic acids which give it its sour tangy flavour.
Our Difference
At Stiff Tea, we take things a step further by creating some unique fermentation conditions, adding some extra sugar and refermenting the kombucha to produce more alcohol, but this isn’t turned into organic acids by the bacteria. At the end of this process, you have the same tangy kombucha but with an added boozy kick. We will then add dry hops or add loads of fruit which are also fermented out for even more layers of flavour.
Spill The Tea
In kombucha, tea is the backbone of a brew. At Stiff Tea, we’ve made it a priority to source the best tea possible.
We worked closely with our supplier to help us secure something truly exceptional: Japanese Hojicha. Our Hojicha is sourced from just outside Uji city in Kyoto Prefecture - an area celebrated for its exceptional tea. Hojicha is premium green tea that is roasted in porcelain pots over charcoal to further develop the flavour profile, turning the tea from green to a light brown.
There are no grassy, astringent notes you’d expect from green tea, instead think a bright but soft nutty character, hints of caramel, and a toasted warmth. Flavour is everything to us and sourcing such a quality tea is part of our commitment to doing justice to the craft.
Brewing Stiff Tea
Before we can brew up a batch of Stiff Tea, we need to ensure we have a healthy kombucha culture to brew with. We split our culture production into two stages: an ‘alcoholic’ fermentation and an ‘acetic’ fermentation. By carefully controlling the fermentation conditions, we can promote yeast and bacteria activity at different stages of the fermentation, remove the original alcohol that way produced by the yeast and produce a clean and funky kombucha base to work withready for the next stage of production: Brewing a batch of Stiff Tea!
Hard Kombucha
We brew a big tank full of sweet tea and add our kombucha mixed culture and yeast and closely monitor the fermentation until we are happy. At this point we add either a dose of dry hops or fruit purees. We rouse the hops to make sure we can pull out as much flavour as we can, and we allow the sugars in the fruit to be fermented out by the mixed culture. Once the fermentation is over, we chill the brew, transfer it to a brite tank and carbonate ready for packaging.