Michelin Star Chefs serving Buckwheat Beverages
Originally published on San Francisco Chronicle
This complex bottle is the nonalcoholic drink of choice at Bay Area natural wine bars and Michelin restaurants
Unified Ferments, a five-year-old company, makes these beautiful beverages in a former Pfizer plant in Brooklyn. Its variations include soba, a deeply toasty buckwheat tea; hojicha, an earthy, nutty roasted green tea; rhododendron, a vegetal, dill-inflected herbal infusion; and Wen Shan Bao Zhong, a perfumed, citrusy oolong. Each tastes nuanced and delicate, with layers of flavor and a lightly tangy acidity — thanks to the fermentation — that makes the drinks extremely food-friendly.