The Tannins
Founded in Southern California in 1995, GT’s has been bottling and selling their tasty fermented teas for more than a quarter of a century. Today, GT’s is one of the most prominent kombucha producers in the country and currently valued at somewhere in the neighborhood of $1B. Kombucha’s tannic properties can range significantly and GT’s Watermelon Wonder has decidedly mild tannins – accentuated by additions of cherry and lime and balanced by the inherently sweet nature of watermelon. The resulting kombucha is a highly crushable and tasty summer treat.
The Terpenes
Los Angeles-based Bear Labs have been crushing the exotic, small-batch live resin game for years, and this Watermelon Z budder is yet another example of their proficiency in this arena. The jar is filled with an extremely terpy sauce that can only be homogenized temporarily – with so many terps present, they inevitably leak out and form an intensely aromatic separate fraction. Upon cracking the jar, notes of menthol, candy canes, roses, sugar and citric astringency rush to overtake the senses. Surprisingly, when dabbed at low temp (sub-500 degrees), the watermelon profile makes a big splash.
The Pairing
Bringing these two delightful watermelon-based offerings together is a winning warm-weather matchup. This particular fruit is always a summertime favorite, so when I cruised by Sacramento’s Mainstage dispensary recently to see what was new, the only thing to do after finding it on the menu was to grab a few grams – then set out on a mission for the tastiest watermelon beverage available to pair it with! The Bear Labs Watermelon Z live resin is super loud and equally flavorful as is, but is kicked up to another level when coupled with the Watermelon Wonder kombucha.
Web & Social: @synergykombucha | gtslivingfoods.com | @bearlabs_ca | getbearlabs.com
