The WISE Lab: Where Fermentation Meets Circular Practice

1. Honest Fermentation: The Art of the Brew

WISE Kombucha is brewed on site using whole-leaf teas, FairWild nettles, organic ingredients where possible, and the slow Wild IS Earth method. Unlike many commercial kombuchas that are stabilised, filtered, pasteurised or force-carbonated for consistency, our kombucha is left alive and unpasteurised. Each batch is allowed to ferment, shift and express itself naturally. Our first fermentation begins in glass jars, where sweet tea, starter liquid and culture work together over time. From there, flavours are developed using botanicals, fruits, roots, flowers, herbs and spices, before being finished through carefully managed food-safe vessels.Because we work with wild fermentation, no two batches are ever completely identical. Temperature, time, tea, sugar, botanicals and microbial activity all influence the final flavour.
That is part of the beauty.

• For the Love of Wild Fermentation: At Wild IS Earth, we embrace the raw intelligence and unpredictability of nature. Rather than stripping the drink back into something flat and uniform, we allow each batch to develop its own living character.This traditional approach creates layers of flavour, acidity, aroma and natural complexity that industrially controlled drinks often cannot replicate. We do not see variation as a flaw. We see it as part of working with a living ferment.

• The Wisdom of 'Back-Slopping':To support a healthy and consistent fermentation environment, we use a traditional method known as back-slopping. This means introducing a carefully selected portion of a mature previous batch into fresh sweet tea. This starter liquid helps lower the pH from the beginning, creating the acidic conditions needed for kombucha fermentation and helping the culture establish itself safely. It is one of the ways we support a clean, robust ferment while honouring the continuity of the microbial culture from batch to batch.

• Glass Over Metal: Our first fermentation is brewed in glass jars, allowing us to clearly observe the culture as it develops. Glass is non-reactive and well suited to acidic ferments such as kombucha. For later stages of production, we use appropriate food-safe vessels, including stainless steel where suitable, as this is widely used in professional fermentation and beverage production when properly cleaned and sanitised. Our signature amber glass bottles help protect the living brew from light exposure and support natural carbonation once bottled. Every stage of the process is handled with care, cleanliness and respect for the sensitivity of a live ferment.

• Natural Alcohol & Living Variation: We do not compete with industrial shelf life. We honour our wild batches and allow them to do their thing. This means we do not remove the naturally occurring alcohol created through fermentation. All real fermentation can produce alcohol, and in live kombucha this may vary from batch to batch and flavour to flavour depending on time, temperature, sugar, tea, botanicals and microbial activity. For us, this is part of the living character of the drink. Each batch carries its own flavour profile, natural rhythm and microbial personality. Where a batch contains alcohol above the legal threshold for non-alcoholic drinks, this is clearly communicated. If ABV is a concern for you, please ask us which flavour is lower in alcohol, or enjoy a small splash mixed with sparkling water, juice or a lower-ABV kombucha rather than a full glass straight.

  Our kombucha is alive, naturally fermented and unpasteurised — made to be respected, tasted and understood as a living drink.

The WISE Lab is where our kombucha, fungi, SCOBY, spent tea and circular ideas all meet. It is a working practice rooted in wild fermentation, low-waste making and living materials — not a factory system, and not a polished research lab.

We do not mass-produce, pasteurise or strip the life out of our kombucha. We work slowly, in small batches, allowing each brew to develop its own character, acidity, flavour and microbial rhythm.

This is a living system.

2. The Living Material: SCOBY Leather

At Wild IS Earth, our commitment to a closed-loop system goes beyond recycling—we are actively pioneering bio-material innovation. Through precise biological engineering, we transform our surplus bacterial cultures into a robust, durable, and sustainable SCOBY leather alternative.

3. The Underground Mycelium Network: The Fungi Dungeon

Right now at WISE, we push the boundaries of circular sustainability by homegrown-cultivating gourmet mushrooms using our leftover spent kombucha tea leaves. Nothing goes to waste; everything loops back into the ecosystem. But we have much bigger plans for this underground network.

Beneath the bubbling kombucha lies the raw heartbeat of our next chapter: The Fungi Dungeon. Currently a raw, subterranean cavern space in the basement, this area is uniquely suited for specialised mushroom cultivation and ecological design. Our vision is to transform this underground chamber into a fully running, state-of-the-art Fungi Lab & Cultivation Hub dedicated to rare, medicinal, and culinary mushrooms.

Partner With Us!
We are actively looking for the right fungi partners, mycologists, and forward-thinking investors to join our ecosystem. Whether you bring scientific cultivation expertise, structural vision, or the capital to build out a cutting-edge urban farm network, we want to talk to you.[Contact us / Pitch your partnership] to tour the basement space.

Let's build a closed-loop system from the soil up.

4. WISE: Close Loop System

The WISE Lab operates on a circular philosophy: nothing is wasted, everything evolves.

• Spent tea leaves are repurposed into nutrient-rich substrate for growing gourmet mushrooms.

• Living SCOBYs are shared with local makers, turned into functional food – SCOBY Calamari and snacks, or grown into durable bio-textiles.

• Every returned glass bottle is sterilised and refilled right here on Kentish Town Road.

** Are you a researcher, bio designer, fungi lover or fellow fermenter? **

We love collaboration. The WISE Lab regularly hosts workshops, fungi growers, and low-waste research projects. Drop by the bar or contact us to connect.