AKA Teas

AKA was founded in 2022 by Domenico Carella together with his wife, Elisa Isidora Manservisi. The name is an acronym for "artistic kombucha alternative", and AKA presents it as a homage to the artistic expression that characterizes its bottles. The company is based in Milan.^[1]

The idea came from chefs and restaurateur clients of Carella, who were asking him for an elegant, refined non-alcoholic product. The recipes were developed over a year of research in collaboration with master brewers at a fermentation facility in Piacenza, where AKA is produced.^[1]

AKA's governing idea is to treat kombucha as a bottle-fermented sparkling beverage rather than a soft drink: the house calls its bottle-refermented kombucha "Tè Sur Lies". The April 2024 CiboToday interview describes the result as a fermented-tea drink processed like sparkling wine, designed to resemble a sparkling wine at the table or in cocktail mixing, and places it among non-alcoholic drinks.^[1],[2]

The second distinguishing commitment is graphic: AKA labels are customized by artists, photographers and graphic designers invited to collaborate, and the name itself points back to that artistic dimension.^[1]

On alcohol content, AKA describes its kombucha as analcolico (non-alcoholic) in its own materials. In April 2024 Carella gave the figure as about half a degree, explaining that yeasts first ferment the added sugar and bacteria then convert the alcohol into organic acids, leaving a negligible percentage in the finished kombucha.^[1],[3]

First fermentation on SCOBY. The base is an infusion of Assam black tea (TGFOP) and green tea (China Green OP), to which raw cane sugar and the house scoby are added to trigger the first fermentation. AKA characterizes kombucha fermentation as a mixed fermentation: saccharomyces yeasts are responsible for the alcoholic fermentation and feed first on the sugar added to the tea, while a symbiotic community of bacteria works at different stages of the process and subsequently converts that alcohol into organic acids.^{[1],[2],[3],[4],[5],[6],[7],[8]}

• Jasmine — first fermentation started from an Assam black tea and green tea infusion with raw cane sugar and scoby
• Fig Leaves — begins from a base of Assam black tea infusion with raw cane sugar, fermented with a scoby
• Lapsang Souchong — base of Lapsang Souchong tea infusion with added raw cane sugar and a scoby

Water kefir (Tibicos). AKA also uses water kefir — Tibicos, obtained from the fermentation of a sugar-water solution by kefir grains — in its production. CiboToday reported that it gives the beverage a balanced acidity, remarkable softness and a milky note.^{[1],[5],[6],[9],[10]}

• Jasmine — Tibicos accounts for 12% of the blend
• Lapsang Souchong — kefir water (Tibicos) listed among the ingredients
• Genmaicha — Tibicos made with water, sugar and tibicos culture, 12% of the blend; with the green tea leaves it gives the palate a silkiness

Unfiltered, unpasteurized. AKA states that its kombucha is fermented and refermented in bottle without filtration or pasteurization.^[8]

Smoked teas. Lapsang Souchong is a Chinese black tea dried and smoked over pine or cedar wood; that fumé aroma carries into the kombucha of the same name, which AKA says fermentation transforms and amplifies into new nuances.

Tea infusions. Each cuvée takes its identity from a distinct infusion layered onto the kombucha base.

• Genmaicha — infusion of Genmaicha tea at 43% of the blend, plus black tea infusion at 19%; its toasted rice gives roundness and warm, almost buttery notes
• Jasmine — jasmine tea infusion at 39%, kombucha 29%, black tea infusion 20%
• Lapsang Souchong — fermented black tea infusion of Lapsang Souchong and Earl Grey, the latter contributing a citrus and bergamot character
• Fig Leaves — Assam black tea base with an added fig leaf infusion

AKA describes the finished kombucha as dry, alive and elegant, with fine effervescence, balanced acidity and an aromatic profile defined by the raw material.^{[1],[2],[3],[8]}

The house states that the balanced acidity makes it suitable to drink at any time and that it pairs well with tasting menus. CiboToday described the bottles as intended for meals or for cocktail mixing.^[1],[2]

AKA's labels are a rotating commission: artists, photographers and graphic designers are invited to interpret its flavours, with a new set each year. The first production line carried labels by artist Gianluca Biscalchin, who designed the Christmas 2023 labels.^[11]

In April 2024 Carella said AKA would hold an annual contest for young creatives, with the winner creating an AKA label.^[1]