Business & Tech

Tap Into Kombucha on Draft

The fermented Chinese tea drink is now showing up on tap lines around the borough.

The borough’s hottest beverage is now on tap.

At you can now order up a glass of draft Kombucha – the fermented Chinese tea drink that has been taking the borough by storm.

The Fourth Avenue café started carrying the beverage, which is often drunk for medicinal purposes, last month.

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Maria Bowen, a co-owner of Root Hill Café, said a customer inspired the spot to pick up kombucha on draft after sharing some of his own homebrewed kombucha with the storeowners. The drink is brewed much like beer, fermented using a mass of yeast and bacteria referred to as the “mother.”

“We’ve introduced a lot of people to Kombucha, and those who were already drinking it have said that the kombucha on draft is really smooth,” said Bowen.

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The ‘buch, as aficionados often call it, is from the locally brewed Kombucha Brooklyn and is available in two flavors at the café – when Patch stopped by, the flavors were “Straight Up” and Jasmine.

For those who fear the strong and often vinegary tea drink, the kombucha from Kombucha Brooklyn is, as Bowen mentioned, particularly smooth. On tap, it almost resembles a dry white wine, with strong herbal notes.  The jasmine, in particular, would easily please even the pickiest pallets.

Root Hill Café isn’t the only one to offer up the increasingly popular beverage. Recently Cobble Hill’s started offering kombucha alongside their beer taps, as did Park Slope’s .

At Root Hill Café, a 16-ounce glass of the tea drink will run you $5, but filling up a growler with the stuff is a steal – an entire growler is just $8.

“I think the neighborhood is ready for kombucha on tap,” said Bowen.


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