REAL

Founding. REAL was founded in 2017 by David Begg, initially under the name Real Kombucha, to address what Begg saw as a lack of good non-alcoholic beers and ales available in pubs. Some sources date the founding of Real Kombucha to 2016. A pivotal moment came on 9 January 2017, when Begg and his collaborator Adrian brewed a white peony tea that convinced them they could control the fermentation quality the business would require. REAL launched publicly at the Restaurant Show in London at the end of 2017.^[1],[2]

Development. Begg began brewing on his kitchen counter using Silver Needle tea, with the first kombucha batches started in Kilner jars. He experimented with fermentation, the taste profiles of loose-leaf teas, and the impact of conditioning and bottling on flavour, and after almost two years of persistence created a liquid with the depth of flavour he had been missing. Before turning kombucha into a business, Begg required three things to be in place: a product the team truly believed in, a shelf-stable ambient product, and branding that represented what they were doing.^[1],[3]

Adrian Hodgson — co-founder. Adrian Hodgson, described as a nutrition innovator, is a co-founder of Real Kombucha. He worked alongside Begg on the January 2017 white peony tea brew and on the company's early fermentation trials.^[4]

Will Battle — tea expert. Tea expert Will Battle worked with Begg and Hodgson during the development of Real Kombucha's brews, part of a team that experimented with 150 different teas before settling on the initial three.^[5]

REAL's central position is that its drinks are naturally non-alcoholic through fermentation rather than through alcohol removal. According to the company, it avoids the Spinning Cone Column dealcoholization process used by other non-alcoholic drinks, arguing it strips out essential flavour compounds and esters. REAL contrasts its approach with most non-alcoholic wines, which use heat or reverse osmosis to strip out alcohol and often lose delicate volatile flavour compounds in the process, whereas fermentation requires no alcohol removal and preserves those flavours.^[6]

The founders decided early on not to add any flavourings to the fermented tea, choosing to let the tea's natural fermentation flavours define the drink. REAL positions its fermented tea as a closer cousin to Champagne than to most soft-drink kombuchas, brewing a simple acidic base flavoured only with the tea itself and with nothing added post-fermentation.^[2]

Natural yeast-and-bacteria fermentation. REAL ferments sweet tea using a natural combination of yeast and bacteria in which the yeast produces alcohol from the tea's sugars and the bacteria then consumes most of that alcohol and converts it into acids, resulting in a naturally non-alcoholic drink at about 0.5% ABV. Production runs in large 10,000-litre stainless steel vessels, applying yeast and bacterial cultures to a tea and sugar substrate. The process is honed by microbiology and years of experimentation to achieve a balanced fermentation yielding low-sugar, flavourful drinks.^[2],[6]

Patented microbial 'spice rack'. Real Co uses a complex, patented fermentation process built on a diverse 'spice rack' of 80 yeasts and 130 bacteria to create its flavours. The company DNA-tested and isolated these strains from its wild fermentation to understand how each behaves and combines. The strains are code-named after characters from A Midsummer Night's Dream: the Puck-named yeasts are described as bright, fresh and fruity, the Oberon-named yeasts as earthy, rounded and solid, and the Helena-named yeasts as drier with more attitude.^[7]

• Puck — bright, fresh and fruity yeasts
• Oberon — earthy, rounded and solid yeasts
• Helena — drier yeasts with more attitude

Tea selection & development. Tea selection is central to REAL's craft. The original trio emerged after experimenting with 150 different teas, and since starting in 2017 the company has fermented 300 to 350 different teas as part of its product development. Individual products are the result of extended trials: REAL's Peony Blush took two and a half years and hundreds of fermentations to develop.^[6]

REAL's drinks contain roughly 2% to 3% residual sugar, placing them closer in sweetness to a Sec-style sparkling wine or Prosecco than to the 5–6% sugar typical of most non-alcoholic wines. Laboratory analysis found that REAL's fermented tea contains a flavour compound otherwise found only in fermented Sauvignon Blanc grapes.^[2]

Across the range, Dry Dragon (REAL Dry) is described as citrusy and refreshing with notes of lemon and grapefruit, positioned as an alternative to a Sauvignon Blanc, and as a lighter, all-day drink with a bit of a kick. Royal Flush (REAL Sec) is described as a sophisticated fizz with delicate floral notes of rhubarb and white peach, positioned as an alternative to Champagne or Prosecco, pouring like a Prosecco as an occasion drink. Smoke House is described as full-bodied with rich notes of caramel and apple.

REAL collaborated with Kilner to help promote a kombucha brewing kit and educate people about kombucha. The company also works with up-and-coming UK chefs, such as Tom Peters, to develop food pairings for its kombucha.^[8],[9]