RISE Kombucha

Not too terribly long ago I reviewed the new Orange & Turmeric flavour of kombucha released by RISE – well, after a bit of light hunting I was able to find the second new flavour that the company put out: Lychee & Jasmine!

I was skeptical about this one; I don’t love jasmine and I don’t really see that translating to kombucha in a positive way and as much as I love lychee it’s also a flavour that doesn’t make a ton of sense to me in kombucha. I was so happy to be proven wrong though, because this tasted incredible! It honestly might be one of the best kombucha flavours I’ve ever had, and easily the best from this company.

It’s got a very good lychee and jasmine balance, with a refreshing floral sweetness. Something about it is also giving me “Easter Jellybean” vibes, but in a delicious and nostalgic way that I don’t mind at all. Miraculously neither of the flavours feel out of place and while the vinigar-y note in the kombucha is mild, it’s still present and not really competitive with those fresh Spring-time flavours. It’s even quite sweet in a more natural way! Not to mention, because of the butterfly pea flower, the kombucha is a very striking purple!

Big win on this one!

Saw this while grocery shopping and kind of instantly had a craving for it, which was weird because I don’t remember being all that impressed the last time I had it. Picked it up though and it’s definitely fine – more orange than turmeric and refreshing with a nice sweet and acidic balance. Nothing special though.

Went out for ice cream yesterday afterwork to Kem Coba (a fancy ice cream place here in MTL I guess?) with a coworker – which was actually an amazing experience and delicious. I got a scoop of Pandan icecream and a scoop of Salted Butter, both were amazing but there was actually something surprisingly magical about the salted butter!?

On the way home I stopped at a Depanneur for something iced/cold to drink on the way home and I noticed a bright orange kombucha in the line up of flavours of RISE Kombucha. Now, I thought that I’d tried all of the flavours RISE carries (minus the ginger, ’cause no…) so seeing something BRIGHT ORANGE threw me off. Well, I guess they put out new flavours! So, I grabbed a bottle to introduce myself – orange and turmeric, sounds lovely right!? So I had kombucha for the metro ride home.

I’m a bit thrown by this one – I think I’d need to drink it again to make my mind up. It’s got a weird ingredient list; the orange/vanilla/oolong with a hint of spice from the turmeric and ginger!? Quite a lovely mix, one that I’m really into. However, there might be just a bit too much turmeric because I was getting that bitterness that’s hard to avoid from lots of turmeric. There’s also lots of carrot in this; I’d wager that’s intended to both add orange colour visually but also for sweetness, since carrot is naturally sweet and often used in tea blends for subtle sweetness. However, when you use a lot of carrot it can taste earthy – so that and the turmeric might have been a bit much. Also there’s a floral undertone, clearly coming from the inclusion of chamomile and lavender – it’s weird and I don’t think it goes with that sweet orange/warming spice vibe. I didn’t enjoy that element.

So overall… Lots of nice qualities, really cool concept but a few interesting ingredient choices that I’m not into. Will try this again, though!

One of the weirdest kombucha flavours I’ve had to date…

I didn’t love this one, though I’m sure there are people out there that it WOULD appeal to. For me, it just tasted really strongly of those spearmint gummy candies you used to be able to buy for five cents at the convenience store (which I’ve never been a fan of) mixed with really sour grass notes and, like, brine? This is definitely meant to emulate a “green juice” sort of thing, but that just doesn’t mesh with me.

I’ll pass on this one, and stick to the other offerings from RISE that I know I enjoy.

Another interesting kombucha.

The top notes of this one were really acidic and sour – like a mix of sour berry and pickle brine. It was weird because after that initial mouth puckering sourness subsided the rest of the flavour was like sweet rose water. So, some pretty harsh juxtaposition of flavours. It worked though, and ultimately still tasted really nice.

Grabbed from a convenience store because I was thirsty and I always prefer to choose an RTD form of “tea” over just grabbing a juice or soda…

It wasn’t bad; but after so recently having the Lychee & Jasmine kombucha from this company (which was INCREDIBLE) it’s just not really playing on the same level. At least at this moment, that lychee kombucha is my golden standard…

Wasn’t sure if I’d like this kombucha because it’s so hibiscus focused, which would likely mean it would be VERY tart. Well, it is quite tart but I actually love it! Kombucha naturally has this acidic/vinegar like quality to it, and hibiscus leans so well into that that it makes for this really pleasant sweet and tart drink that tastes exactly like a brew of strong, fizzy hibiscus. It just… works!

Got a free drink with one of my lunch orders at work this week so I picked out this RISE kombucha since it’s probably been, like, at least two years since I last had it? It was pretty solid. The blueberry was nice and juicy and overall it was, like, surprisingly more maple forward than I remembered it being. Only con was that, for some reason which escapes me, the very last swig was soooo bitter and gross.

So, I discovered a new (to me) Kombucha company! They have a lot of the somewhat more typical flavours, like ginger, but also a few that seemed more unique to me like this one. I ended up buying three of the five flavours that were available to me, and this is the first one that I’ve tried.

I found it incredibly pleasant; it’s tangy with a really natural blueberry taste that both has the tang and slight acidity of under ripe blueberries as well as the sweetness and juicy quality of overripe blueberry. It’s kind of hilarious because it’s the same fruit but still has this incredible juxtaposition of flavour. The maple isn’t as strong as expected, but is also there; more like this mild, sweet finish after the initial wave of fizz and fruit flavour. I want a little bit more of it, but I’ll admit that subtle ‘tease’ of maple really keeps you drinking looking for that next fix…

It’s good! I’m excited to try the other flavours I picked out.