It started with a kombucha

A few years ago, a kombucha mother moved into the kitchen. Then a water kefir. Then a ginger bug. And before I knew it, there were jars on every shelf, each one quietly bubbling away and needing a bit of attention every few days. Fermentation is a bit like the blobs: living things that do most of the work themselves, as long as you don’t neglect them.

The fermentation years

The first round was all about the classics:

• Kombucha, which taught me the essentials: filtration, refrigeration, and a slice of lemon fix a lot of things.
• Water kefir and ginger beer, from a homemade ginger bug (and a kefir + ginger bug mix, because why not).
• Lacto-fermented vegetables: onions first, then cabbage. Salt, water, time. Surprisingly hard to get wrong, surprisingly easy to get hooked on.
• A fermented buckwheat bread, and a first beer, brewed with friends and tasted a few weeks later with a lot of pride.

Then came the bottles

2025 was the year things got a bit more serious. Kvas first (twice, the second one was better). Then cider, done as a proper experiment: several batches with different yeasts, side by side, to see what the yeast actually changes. Spoiler: a lot. Then wine: bottled in the autumn, with the corks replaced along the way, and a nice excuse to follow the Montmartre harvest closely. Mead is still on the list, waiting for its turn.

Cherry and ginger

The 2026 one is a cherry-ginger wine. It took a few checks in June before I trusted it enough to bottle it, and then the real test came in July: a tasting session next to the wine from the countryside. The verdict? The cherry-ginger holds up. And the countryside wine is still the countryside wine =)

What I learned

• Yeast matters more than you think. Same juice, different yeast, different drink.
• Write things down. Dates, quantities, what you changed. Future you will be grateful.
• Patience is the main ingredient. Most of the work is waiting, and checking, and waiting again.
• It’s better shared. Half the fun is opening a bottle with friends and neighbours, and comparing notes for the next batch.

So…

No repo for this one, just jars, bottles, and a notebook full of dates. Next up: that mead.