By Alex Kramer
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Imagine this: a fermented, slightly fizzy pineapple jalapeño-flavored tea with just a hint of alcohol. That’s just one example of kombucha.

The local Wild Culture Kombucha will soon start distributing kombucha to local restaurants and through a table at the Farmers’ Market, pending a license.

“We started the company last spring because we love brewing kombucha,” said Tim Roed, a co-owner of Wild Culture. “We just wanted to do something we’d seen in a lot of places around the country while we were travelling. In Denver, they have big brew houses with taprooms and stuff, so I wanted to get the local kombucha scene going like that, too.”

For those who don’t know, kombucha is a fermented, probiotic tea, Roed said. The taste often resembles a tart, fruity soda, and there is a small amount of alcohol in the drink.

“Kombucha is a fermented tea that is high in probiotics and B vitamins,” said Rachelle Schmidt, a co-owner of Wild Culture. “Ours is going to be different, because we’re doing full-strength kombucha. A lot of brewers stop the process halfway through to make sure it is below 0.5 percent alcohol content. Doing ours full-strength will be about 1 percent alcohol, but you get the full probiotics and health benefits in it.”

Wild Culture intends to offer a wide variety of flavors year-round including pineapple jalapeño, beet orange lime, honey lavender chamomile, and ginger turmeric lemon.

Seasonal flavors could include peach basil, strawberry rosemary, and plum vanilla, Roed said. Pumpkin spice addicts will be in luck, as Wild Culture will be offering fall-inspired flavors as well.

“We definitely want to do a pumpkin brown sugar-something or other,” he said. “This fall, we’ve also been playing around with a cinnamon apple maple flavor.”

Customers will have to be at least 21 years old to purchase the product, Roed said.

“We’re going for the craft brewery feel with it,” he said.

There are around five or six businesses lined up to work with Wild Culture, Roed said, including the new Iowa City Brewlab, set to open soon at 505 E. Washington St.

“Kombucha is a good thing to blend with a good, solid beer, especially if it has some other flavors. It makes a good pairings or complements,” said Drew Letcher, the owner of the Iowa City Brewlab. “We’ll offer Wild Culture Kombucha here in the taproom, as well as do some collaboration with our beer and their kombucha sometime in the future.”

Wild Culture Kombucha beverages will also use fresh-pressed juices, Schmidt said.

“We do press the juices by hand unlike some of the stuff on store shelves that use pasteurized juices, stuff that comes from a bottle, or syrups,” Roed said. “We don’t use any of that.”

Giving people a healthy alternative to the traditional weekend bar scene is another reason the duo decided to start this business, Schmidt said.

“Eventually, we hope to do a kombucha bar. That’s something that can bring people together,” she said. “It would be nice if there were some alternatives rather than just going to a bar and getting drunk. There’s a lot of different sides to kombucha. You can drink it on its own for health. You can mix it in martinis or make cocktails with it.”

The most exciting part will be putting a new spin on health to Iowa City, Schmidt said.

“People think that health can be kind of boring,” she said. “Kombucha is a fun, enjoyable drink that’s really good for you and it can be a social drink as well.”