Unified Ferments

Founding. Unified Ferments is a Brooklyn-based producer of non-alcoholic fermented teas. Sources place its launch in late 2019, with one January 2024 account dating the launch to January 2020. The company was co-founded by Young Stowe and Graham Pirtle. The venture originated from a planned Lower East Side wine bar concept that was to include an in-house fermentation program.^[1],[2],[3]

The spark. The founding was inspired by Graham Pirtle's realization, while employed at a high-end tea house in Manhattan, that certain teas age and can be consumed like fine wines. Both Pirtle and Stowe had worked for breweries and wineries for several years before launching the company. Before founding Unified Ferments, the two curated tea-based cocktail omakases at a New York teahouse.^[4],[5]

Distribution history. The company self-distributed in New York until early 2023. For years it did not pasteurize its sparkling teas because it lacked access to affordable tools to do so, which made cross-country distribution impossible and caused logistical problems with retailers and restaurants. From early 2023 it began pasteurizing and working with distributors to ship outside of New York.^[2]

Young Stowe — co-founder and CEO. Young Stowe is the co-founder and CEO of Unified Ferments, and by an April 2023 account runs the company. Stowe has a background in the beer and wine world. That food-and-beverage background includes work at Bedford Cheese Shop, running the food program at Covenhoven in Crown Heights, work at Bug Brewing Company in Marfa, Texas, and work at Folksbier in New York.

Graham Pirtle — co-founder. Graham Pirtle has extensive tea experience and knowledge. He worked as a bar manager at Lavender Lake in Gowanus and picked up shifts at 29B, a teahouse on the Lower East Side, where he deepened his knowledge of tea. Before co-founding Unified Ferments he was working at Tea Dealers, a tea importer based in Alphabet City, New York.^[6]

Team and backers. Stowe and Pirtle met as roommates at Baylor, a boarding school in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and are described as friends and roommates. As of May 2021 the company was a four-person operation in which two partners preferred to remain in the background. An owner of Tea Dealers became an initial investor and helped source teas directly from China, Taiwan, and India.^[2],[6]

Tea at the center. Unified Ferments operates at the intersection of two culinary traditions — tea production and fermentation — both with lineages extending deep into prehistory. The company prioritizes tea quality above all else in its production process, positioning tea as the primary focus rather than the fermentation culture. It differentiates itself by using specific teas as the base rather than a simple tea that is then flavored, as is common with most kombucha. Per a May 2025 podcast, the company describes itself as not a blending house: rather than blending different flavor profiles, it selects expressive single teas and uses fermentation to express them with minimal intervention.^[4],[7],[8]

Flavor over health. The company was motivated by flavor rather than health claims and explicitly distances itself from probiotic health marketing. It focuses on amplifying teas' inherent flavors and intervening as little as possible during fermentation, rather than emphasizing probiotic potential. It does not position itself as a probiotic product.

'Third-wave kombucha' and 'fermented teas'. In a July 2021 feature the company positioned itself as third-wave kombucha, analogous to third-wave coffee. Young Stowe is credited with coining the term 'third-wave kombucha' to describe a category of makers who rigorously source their teas, use restraint with additional flavors, and make beverages meant to be paired with food. The company prefers the term 'fermented teas' over 'kombucha' to signal respect for the base ingredient and a departure from cloying commercial flavors, and considers its beverages more akin to natural wine than kombucha in terms of flavor complexity. It describes its products as defying the typical kombucha category through advanced blending, aging, and clarity techniques.^{[2],[3],[9],[10]}

No house style. The company does not have a house style, instead aiming to produce a diverse range of textures, aromatics, and flavor structures across its lineup.^[1]

Category and format. Unified Ferments produces non-alcoholic fermented beverages made from single-origin teas, sold in 750mL bottles. The company describes its products as ferments or fermented tea, and produces both kombucha and jun — lightly fermented tea-based drinks sweetened with sugar and honey respectively — in both sparkling and still formats, with no fruit flavoring. All recipes have been verified to produce well under the 0.5% ABV legal limit for non-alcoholic beverages per USDA standards, and the beverages naturally sit below that threshold.^[6],[11]

The lineup. Each expression is named after the single-origin tea that forms its base. Across time the company has offered seven ferments: Qi Dan, Snow Chrysanthemum, Wen Shan Bao Zhong, Jasmine Green, Lapsang Souchong, Nilgiri Green, and Nilgiri Coonoor. A February 2022 account described five different expressions. Current selected offerings include Rhododendron, Jasmine Green, Snow Chrysanthemum, Wen Shan Bao Zhong, Nilgiri Green, and Nilgiri Coonoor.^[12],[13]

Experiments. The company hosts an experiments page for trial-runs, one-offs, and experimental blends that have not yet made it into main production. The Nilgiri Coonoor and Nilgiri Green are experimental offerings with very limited inventory, intended to potentially join the main lineup. During the pandemic, the company discovered that bottles aged a month or two longer than intended produced notably impressive results, inspiring plans for a reserve line.^[4],[14]

Figment kombucha. Figment is a kombucha brand co-owned by Jason and Jessica Dean that has been selling at Athens, Georgia farmers' markets since 2018. Its four core year-round flavors, available in 12-ounce cans, are ginger-lemongrass, strawberry-Meyer lemon, orange blossom, and blueberry-lavender. Figment also produces limited-edition blends called 'Vignettes,' each inspired by a person or place from Jason Dean's life and made with expensive teas not used in its canned products.^[9]

Each bottle showcases a unique, single-varietal tea sourced from an individual producer, built from four base ingredients: tea leaves (Camellia sinensis), water, a sweetener (honey or sugar), and aged, matured kombucha as a starter culture. The company uses kombucha fermentation chemistry to unpack and translate tea into a novel context, applying the fermentation process to bring out the unique structure and depth held in each tea leaf or flower. The reasoning it offers is that the polyphenols, catechins, tannins, caffeine, and subtle sugars in brewed tea are all utilized across the full spectrum of fermentation.^[1]

Kombucha and jun fermentation. Fermentation uses a SCOBY (symbiotic colony of yeasts and bacteria) that creates a hostile environment for other microbial life. The company produces both kombucha (sweetened with sugar) and jun (sweetened with honey). Snow Chrysanthemum is the honey-sweetened jun in the core range, using honey to express the dense, floral character of the tea, while sugar-based recipes include Qi Dan, Wen Shan Bao Zhong, Lapsang Souchong, Nilgiri Coonoor, Nilgiri Green, Jasmine Green, and Rhododendron. The company uses modern technologies to monitor and subtly influence fermentation rather than to speed up or significantly alter the process.^[1]

• Snow Chrysanthemum — jun, made with honey to express the dense, floral character of the tea
• Jasmine Green — the fermentation ferments both the tea and the jasmine flowers that flavor it
• Qi Dan, Wen Shan Bao Zhong, Lapsang Souchong — sugar-based, made with sparkling water
• Nilgiri Coonoor, Nilgiri Green, Rhododendron — sugar-based, made with filtered water

Hand-steeping single-origin teas. The company brews each single-origin loose-leaf tea by hand, studying optimal steeping methods per tea variety, and uses intensive steeping techniques alongside fermentation and thoughtful blending to create wine-like expressions.^[3]

Carbonation. The company generally force-carbonates its beverages rather than relying on bottle conditioning. Sparkling expressions include Qi Dan, Wen Shan Bao Zhong, and Lapsang Souchong; Nilgiri Green is aimed to be still but may have a little carbonation after shipping.^[15]

Blending, aging and clarity. Beyond kombucha fermentation the company employs additional techniques in blending, aging, and achieving clarity that distinguish its products from conventional kombucha. Products are designed to sit comfortably in stemware, positioning them as fine beverage alternatives rather than typical kombucha.^[16]

Pasteurization. The company found that teas with an oxidative, malty, or roasty element — commonly found in oolongs and black teas — were enhanced by heat stabilization. It now pasteurizes its sparkling teas and considers the bottles essentially unchanged by pasteurization, with some characteristics actually improved.^[17]

Pinewood-fired and roasted teas. The Lapsang Souchong tea is a mature, broad-leaf tea finished over a pinewood fire, yielding a silky, luxurious, unapologetically smoky profile. The Nilgiri Coonoor tea is deeply oxidized and carefully roasted, a treatment the company attributes to the unique soil composition of the Nilgiri mountain region.

• Lapsang Souchong — mature broad-leaf tea finished over a pinewood fire
• Nilgiri Coonoor — deeply oxidized and carefully roasted

Jasmine scenting. The jasmine green tea used in Jasmine Green has been scented in the traditional style with eight different lots of fresh, whole jasmine buds, and the fermentation ferments both the tea and the jasmine flowers that flavor it.

Tea sourcing. Tea is sourced from artisan producers who spend their working lives inflecting tea into different styles and expressions, and from historic producers with a proven history of quality practices. The company sources single-origin teas grown and prepared by small farmers across China, and directly imports; it also sources from China, Taiwan, and India, along with honey from an apiary in New Jersey. Some teas are sourced directly from farms and producers, while brokers are used for others.^[6],[15]

Provenance-driven teas. Individual expressions draw on specifically sourced teas. The two Nilgiri ferments are made from teas sourced from the same harvest at an all-women-run farm in the Nilgiri Mountains of South India, processed in contrasting styles: Nilgiri Green is lightly oxidized and near-green, made in the style of China's mao feng tradition, while Nilgiri Coonoor is roasted and highly oxidized. Other single-origin teas carry their own provenance.^[12]

• Nilgiri Green & Nilgiri Coonoor — same harvest from an all-women-run farm in the Nilgiri Mountains, South India
• Snow Chrysanthemum — flowers from a hardy, nutritionally dense varietal grown in China's Kunlun Mountain area that spends nearly half its life buried under snow
• Qi Dan — descended from one of the oldest cultivars in China's Wuyi Mountain region
• Wen Shan Bao Zhong — lightly oxidized oolong from a fourth-generation tea-producing family in Taiwan's Nantou region, northern Taiwan
• Rhododendron — tea (also known as Labrador Tea or Greenland Lemon) wild-harvested in the northern forests of Quebec

Production standards. Products contain approximately 7.5 grams of sugar per 150mL serving, equating to roughly 30 calories per glass. Direct-to-consumer sales account for approximately 25% of total revenue.^[16]

Character. The company describes its beverages as more akin to natural wine than kombucha in terms of flavor complexity, with no house style but a deliberately diverse range of textures, aromatics, and flavor structures. Individual expressions run from smoky and velvety (Lapsang Souchong: conifer, peat, sorghum, and a round lactic finish) to floral (Wen Shan Bao Zhong: orchid, honeysuckle, and fresh marzipan with subtle salinity), to orange-wine-like (Snow Chrysanthemum: starfruit, shaved asparagus, and pollen, with a fluorescent color in the glass). The two Nilgiri ferments share a chewy, green-fruit tannic character expressed in two completely different ways; Nilgiri Green has been likened to a skin-contact Riesling.^[2],[12]

Service temperature. Expressions are recommended at wine-style serving temperatures matched to their weight. Wen Shan Bao Zhong, Nilgiri Green, Snow Chrysanthemum, and Rhododendron are served at white wine temperature; Lapsang Souchong at red wine temperature; and Qi Dan and Nilgiri Coonoor at chilled red wine temperature, allowed to breathe and warm for full expression. Jasmine Green is best enjoyed chilled at sparkling wine temperature, with attention to its aromatics as it warms in the glass.

Pairing and service format. The drinks are presented in sleek wine bottles and poured into stemware. The company emphasizes on-premise restaurant sales, preferring by-the-glass pours over bottle sales. Individual expressions carry specific food pairings — for example, Lapsang Souchong with cereal grains, wild fungi, and bloody steaks; Wen Shan Bao Zhong with fresh oysters, sheep's milk cheese, and watercress sandwiches; Nilgiri Green with Roman carbonara, spitted pork, and salade niçoise; and Snow Chrysanthemum with dim sum, tiger salad, and carnitas.^[2],[10]

Kettl. Unified Ferments has collaborated with Japanese tea purveyor Kettl. Beverages produced under this collaboration include Hojicha, Kukicha, and Soba.^[10]

On beverage lists. Unified Ferments products appear on beverage lists at Eleven Madison Park in New York, The Four Horsemen in Brooklyn, and Kato in Los Angeles.^[10]

Press coverage. The company has been featured in Bon Appétit, Food & Wine, The Wall Street Journal, and Slowdown, among other publications.^[18]