MOMO Launch Brand Refresh & Collaboration with Caravan Coffee Roasters -

MOMO -

South London start-up, MOMO Kombucha (www. momo-kombucha.com) create certified organic kombucha using natural methods from their Vauxhall brewery. The growing team’s mission is to produce the best tasting and highest quality kombucha, which they achieve by using organic ingredients, including a blend of the finest teas and slow pressed organic juice; brewing in glass bottles, in super small batches, and leaving the liquid completely unfiltered to offer the maximum health impact. April 2023 sees MOMO launch a brand refresh, unveiling a new simplified bottle design and resealable cap, as well as a first-of-its-kind launch, MOMO X Caravan Gesha

Coffee Kombucha (RRP £4.50 per 330ml bottle) made in partnership with Caravan Coffee Roasters, available from the 24th April from Selfridges, select independent retailers and Caravan Restaurants and Brewbars.

Momo X Caravan Gesha Coffee Kombucha

MOMO’s unfiltered organic kombucha blends with Caravan’s cold brew Gesha coffee, resulting in a complex blend with an entirely new flavour profile that is unexpected but delicious; think rich caramel, ripe strawberry and red apple, rounded out with a tart kombucha hit.

The coffee used is a natural Gesha variety from Finca El Fenix, an experimental farm and community wet mill in Quindío, Colombia. The farm is owned and operated by Raw Material, a social enterprise importer who work on the ground with coffee farmers to improve livelihoods through transparent and fair coffee sourcing. In 2016, Caravan donated funds to Raw Material to help build Finca El Fenix, including the construction of their wet mill as well as planting several lots of rare varieties of coffee trees. From those trees, the Gesha coffee beans used to make MOMO x Caravan Gesha Coffee Kombucha were grown, which were then processed at the El Fenix wet mill in the natural style, before being roasted and cold-brewed in Caravan’s North London roastery.

Gesha is one of the world’s rarest and most soughtafter coffee varieties, with a distinctive fruity and floral flavour profile. The natural-style processing of this particular lot accentuates the coffee’s sweetness and fruit notes. To preserve the delicate flavours and juicy acidity of the coffee, a specially developed “hotbloom” cold brew method was used. The result is a bright and fruity coffee with floral notes that combine perfectly with the tart kombucha.

Laura Harper-Hinton, Caravan Coffee Roasters

Founder and CEO says, “We are absolutely thrilled to collaborate with kombucha experts MOMO on a collaborative coffee kombucha, especially as we’ve been big kombucha fans for years. We put a lot of thought into which coffee would work for this, as we thought the average coffee would get lost, but this Gesha is no average coffee, with rich caramel & bright red fruits, it works perfectly with the refreshing, tart qualities of the kombucha. A great example of how coffee can be used in wonderful ways!”

Josh Puddle, MOMO Kombucha Co-Founder adds, “We are so grateful to have partnered with Caravan and to have been able to combine their expertly roasted Colombian Gesha with our kombucha. The result has really surpassed our expectations, with the kombucha amplifying the fruity notes of the Gesha. We’re happy to be supporting Project Waterfall through this partnership, a fantastic organisation working hard to provide access to clean water and sanitation in the countries and communities that grow coffee around the world.”

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MOMO KOMBUCHA CORE RANGE

All of MOMO’s core range of kombuchas (RRP £3.99 per 330ml glass bottle) are Great Taste Award winning, the most popular of the bunch is 2* MOMO Ginger Lemon Kombucha, some ingredients just work magic together and ginger is to kombucha what salt is to dark chocolate – a staple that’s ideal as a morning pick-me-up; MOMO Turmeric Kombucha brings out turmeric’s deliciously earthy flavour, which is brightened by a hint of pineapple juice; MOMO Elderflower Kombucha is smooth and refreshing, a thirst quencher, whatever the weather – MOMO steep organic elderflower with loose leaf tea before fermentation for a fuller depth of flavour; MOMO Raspberry-Hibiscus Kombucha is sophisticated in profile and beautifully pink, thanks to a hint of organic crushed raspberry and a whole lot of hibiscus – the result is deeply hued and richly flavoured, making it an excellent alcohol alternative.

WHAT IS KOMBUCHA?

Kombucha, or fermented tea, has been around thousands of years. When properly brewed it is a delicious, slightly fizzy and refreshing soft drink that is low in sugar and naturally contains probiotics and healthy organic acids. Kombucha is made using four simple ingredients: tea, water, sugar and a SCOBY (Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast). During fermentation, the yeasts consume the sugar and produce alcohol, then the bacteria consume this alcohol to produce the acids that give kombucha its tangy flavour. MOMO’s raw and unfiltered kombucha is full of live cultures which support gut health and aid digestion. Kombucha also naturally contains acetic acid, which is great for boosting energy and lowering blood sugar levels; as kombucha is brewed from tea, it’s also full of antioxidants.

MOMO tested numerous combinations of tea as its base, before settling on the current blend, which uses three types of organic, loose-leaf tea: a delicate sencha, delicious and rich assam and a deep, earthy pu-erh, which is a rare, fermented tea from China.

The Momo Kombucha Method

A key component of MOMO’s method was gleaned during the research stage, when Founders Josh and Lisa Puddle spoke with commercial brewers who told them the best kombucha they had ever made was brewed in small glass jars – the kombucha fermentation process is delicate as the bacteria and yeast need to be balanced, small batch production lends much more control over the process, they decided very early on to commit to this brewing method to keep their processes resolutely artisan. Many kombucha brands ferment in large stainlesssteel tanks, filter, pasteurise or make their liquid from concentrate, MOMO’s 10L glass jar method retains the highest quality. Keeping the kombucha completely unfiltered lends the drink a fuller depth of flavour and retains maximal living cultures.

Momo Kombucha Fans

MOMO Kombucha counts among their fans bestselling cookbook author and chef Melissa Hemsley, as well as gut health expert Tim Spector, who espouses the four k’s: kombucha, kefir, kraut and kimchi – Tim is a big fan of MOMO, and took time out to visit the brewery in person to champion kombucha made with maximum health benefits.