Fous de l'Île Kombucha

I bought a growler of this kombucha a few days ago while grocery shopping and I’ve already finished it off. Presumably it’s a winter/holiday flavour, since I’ve never seen it carried before now and the label was red and green. Makes sense. It was very good though! Bright and a little bit tart with a pretty authentic cranberry juice flavour that matched the fun bit of funky acidity and twang from the kombucha vinegar. The finish was more herbaceous and crisp, with that lovely pine-like note you get from cranberry. I could have drank gallons of this, honestly. Really refreshing and well balanced. Best kombucha I’ve tried in a long time.

Still deeply behind on tasting notes (thank you broken dashboard), so gotten work on cracking some out tonight…

I was pleasantly surprised to see yet another Fous de Lile kombucha flavour while grocery shopping and now that I’m drinking it I’m even more pleasantly surprised! This guava flavour is just absolutely banging. Perfectly sweet, tangy and tropical with a nice floral undertone that I’m going to attribute to both the guava itself and the rose. I was worried it would be too floral, but the balance is really perfect.

I feel like it’s been ages since I last saw Fous de Lile release a new flavour, so when I saw this one while grocery shopping I knew that I needed to try it! It was actually very good, though it was more like a sparkling soda or juice than I kombucha. I found it tasted very equally of lychee and passionfruit, but not at the same time. It was a bit of a mind flip because my brain could only perceive one of the fruit flavours at a time but they would pivot back and forth on a dime. Really interesting, and I actually quite like the concept of juicy floral lychee with tangy tropical passionfruit – they riff off each other nicely.

I definitely stand by my impression of this kombucha from the last time I reviewed it. Sweet but not sugary, and really typical “red cherry” note. Kind of, I think, what you would expect a maraschino cherry to taste like if you had never had one.

I don’t know if this is a new kombucha flavour or just one I’ve missed over the last few years, but I grabbed a bottle the last time I went grocery shopping and I really liked this one. It was tangy and sour in that normal kind of kombucha way, but also very sweet and fresh. It tasted like really good sweet, ripe red cherries – the kind you pick up from a somewhat suspect looking fruit stand at the side of the road in the heat of the summer that just hit so good because of how fresh and perfect they are.

I could drink this kombucha over and over this summer, and I think I’d likely not get sick of it even a little bit.

I remember liking this a lot, so when I saw it again at the grocery store this summer I made sure to grab a bottle – bit I did not enjoy it this time around! The fermentation level was pretty aggressive, and the sharpness/hardness of the bubbles was jarring and unpleasant to me. More than that, the taste was such an acidic and vinegar-y grape note that I felt like I was drinking straight up vinegar. I do like when my kombucha has that yeasty/vinegar-y kind of kick but this was just STRAIGHT vinegar tasting to me. I couldn’t believe how different from memory it was, and I did not finish the bottle…

Sipdown (1078)!

Happily finished this one off last night while catching up on some TV! I try to always have kombucha or other tea related RTD stocked in my fridge for instant cold tea for those moments where I may not have a cold brew going/ready. I don’t really drink water outside of tea, hehe…

This was good – like I said last time, it basically only tastes like fancy carbonated grape juice. Nothing wrong with that though! I’d buy it again, next time I do a fridge restock.

Not sure what makes this “Grape Oak” and not just “Grape” – maybe it’s meant to be a fancier sounding way of implying it has an almost wine like flavour? Maybe it’s one of those moments of weird language variation? Regardless, it’s a damn good GRAPE flavoured kombucha. Simple, to the point and fresh with a nice balance of acidity/tartness and juicy grape flavour. Feels right for an end of summer exclusive…

I wonder why more people haven’t done grape kombucha; it leans so well into the natural vinegary quality of kombucha!

Just had to order this one again in my Lufa box – it was that good/memorable! This time around I shared a bit of it with some coworkers, and all were quite impressed with how delicious the apple and ginger notes were; like a lightly spiced apple cider vinegar profile or even a hard cider…

Hellllll yeeaaahhhh!

Now, this is what I call a kombucha! It’s kind of like a hard, boozey (maybe yeasty) cider meets a ginger beer – or an “adult apple juice” kind of vibe. It’s got some heat, some warm ginger spice that gives it a freshness but the apple is sweet and juicy as well. I could see myself drinking this year round because the orchard fruit notes and fizz are really refreshing but I also totally get the “Autumnal bordering on Winter” vibes that I think the company was going for with this limited edition/seasonal flavour.

Also interesting to me is the fact there’s casacara in this – I really hated it when I tried it on it’s own, but I don’t think I’d have ever clued into it in this drink if I hadn’t read the ingredients list. I wonder if it’s just a small amount, or if it’s just that much of a transformative use of it!?

Regardless, I liked this one a lot!

Picked this up in a Lufa box a week or so ago; it’s this company’s limited edition “Summer Kombucha” flavour and I couldn’t actually think of a time that I’ve ever had a watermelon kombucha so I was instantly sold on curiosity alone…

I drank this one at the park with a small sort of “picnic” (ie. Zeppole and pears) as a small meal before going swimming – a celebratory meal, if you will, because I was just recently cleared to go swimming again after needing to take a few weeks off from it following rupturing my eardrum! It was very exciting being able to go back, for sure!

The kombucha itself was really good; definitely a lot more distinctly watermelon tasting than rhubarb – with a lot of the sweet and refreshing qualities of biting into a slice of really juicy, ripe melon. It has a bit of the tangyness and acidity of rhubarb though, as well as just the kombucha itself. The two flavours work quite well together, actually!

I don’t know that this is my favourite flavour of kombucha that I’ve tried from this company but I think it’s nice and well done and it 100% makes sense as a summer flavour!

I’m not totally sure how I feel about “spicy” kombucha…

I’ve had a handful of kombucha with ginger or turmeric, but usually it’s not my thing at all. Something compelled me to try this one, though – not really sure why. Usually, when a company offers a ginger/turmeric/spiced kombucha I just skip over it and don’t try it. This was weird; it’s got some ginger notes that pop out and some turmeric heat/warmth. It also tastes very woody/clearly of rooibos. However, I just don’t enjoy that flavour combo with the acidity/vinegar-y taste of kombucha or the combination.

I like other fizzy drinks with “spices” (ginger ale/beer, cola, etc.) – but I guess just not these ones…

I am glad I tried it, though.

Welp, this was the last one of the 4-pack I picked up! Honestly, I don’t even really remember drinking this even though I know I did. Sorta just faded into the background of my commute. Probably won’t revisit this for a while now, especially because I’ve already picked out some guayusa/mate RTDs for my next fridge restock.

One more consumed and one more to go. I’ve focused a lot on flavour in my tasting notes, but I just wanted to acknowledge that something I think Fous de l’ile gets really right is the level of fermentation/sparkle. It’s not flat or weak, but not aggressively “sparkly” to the point of giving a full on soda vibe. Just a solid midline level of fizz.

I’ve now finished half of this case pack. It’s totally fine tasting, with a refreshing tropical flavour. Definitely consistent. However, I’m not feeling that “spark” the same way I have with other kombucha or mate RTDs I’ve stocked the fridge with…

I had to do a huge grocery haul when I got home from Saskatchewan, so of course I picked up a new case of kombucha for my morning commutes. I decided to revisit some of these Fous de Lile flavours since they recently rebranded and are converting all of the old glass bottles to cans – which I actually love. The designs look sick, they’re more metro friendly, and aluminum is infinitely recyclable!

And the kombucha was really good, too! Very fresh and tropical with a bit of a juicier top note before sliding into the more familiar funk and tang of the kombucha itself. Not overly tart, but balanced enough to taste every component. Definitely a little nicer than I had remembered it – but to be fair it’s been many years since I last had one of these, I think.

Nabbed this as a little treat for myself to enjoy on the walk home from the grocery store.

One of the words I feel I very, very rarely ever use to describe kombucha is “smooth” but, weird as it may sound, I felt like this was a very smooth kombucha. The mango flavour was a little lighter than I recalled it being from the last time I had this, and it wasn’t all that vinegar-y as far as kombucha goes. But the mouthfeel was thick in a pleasant way, and the lighter tropical notes were really easy drinking…

This kombucha company put out a really interesting exclusive summer flavour so I picked that up in my weekly Lufa box – which is like a food delivery box, with mostly produce type stuff but some other local products and stuff too. I’ll review that some other time, for sure – I haven’t tried it yet. They included this one in my weekly box for free though, which was very generous of them. I drank it today with lunch, and since I’ve tried it before I didn’t pay a TON of attention to it – just enjoyed the sort of tangy “sparkling mango” type vibe…

Got this in my Lufa Box last week (a weekly grocery delivery box) and it was actually pretty good! Definitely a mango flavour, and quite intensely fizzy with the strong vinegar/tangy kick I’ve been craving from a kombucha for a while now.