Meet the small-batch producer bringing kombucha to Sunderland

A fermented tea drink hailed for its probiotic properties, kombucha has risen in popularity in recent years and John Chilton is among the first to be making it for sale in the area.

From a shared unit with the Sunshine Co-operative in the historic Eagle Building in the East End, John has perfected the recipe for his Funk Kombucha drink which he brews using tea from Estate Tea Company in Gateshead.

John juggles the fermenting and brewing with his day job working in IT for Durham Police. He began learning about brewing when he and a friend went in to business in 2017 making gluten-free beer using facilities at Brewlab in Sunderland and Castle Eden Brewery. Although the product was well received, it was expensive to make.

However, it was on a research trip to breweries in London in 2017 that John discovered kombucha.

“On a visit to Crate brewery in Hackney they gave us some cans of beer and some kombucha, which I’d never heard of,” he explained. “When we came back to the North East the kombucha went in the fridge and it wasn’t until I had nothing else left to drink that I opened it. I thought it was amazing and couldn’t believe I hadn’t tried it before.”

Kombucha has become a popular alternative to processed fizzy drinks because it’s still sparkling but its probiotic bacteria, a product of fermentation, is better for gut health. It’s also a drink suitable for vegans.

So impressed with the distinctive taste and benefits of the drink, John set about learning how to make it with a process similar to beer brewing. He travelled to Montreal for a course and came up with the name for his brand.

“On the course we spoke a lot about how funky the kombucha looks during fermentation and the smell being funky, so I played around with that and came up with the name,” explained John who lives in Cleadon.

Kombucha contains a very small amount of alcohol, produced as part of the process, but John ferments his for longer to decrease the alcohol content to less than half a percent. He’s also created four flavours: raspberry & hibiscus, oolong tea & ginger, amarillo hop and oolong tea.

It’s a growing market and John had been doing well before lockdown with sales at food markets in the region, as well as interest from local bars and healthy eating cafes.

Until the food and drink industry gets back up and running fully, Funk Kombucha is available through Sunshine Co-operative deliveries at https://www.sunshinecooperative.co.uk/ or you can pick bottles up in person from the Port Bierhaus beer shop within Port Independent in St Thomas Street.

John is also working on a crowd funder to help step up production and grow the brand.

It comes as the Echo is running its #SupportLocal campaign to encourage people to shop local and boost Wearside trade.

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