Unified Ferments Snow Chrysanthemum

Snow Chrysanthemum is what happens when a Brooklyn fermentation obsessive gets hold of a single-origin green tea and decides honey and wild chrysanthemum flowers are the right direction. They are.

The color is a neon-laced yellow that looks almost too alive for something with no additives. The nose is genuinely exotic: raw honey, tart peach, quince, and a floral note that's hard to place until you remember there are chrysanthemum flowers in the bottle. The tea is barely sparkling on purpose. This drinks closer to a still tea than a sparkling wine, which sounds like a limitation until you realize it's just more focused.

The palate has a light sweetness that the fermentation keeps honest, with a sour finish that has more in common with a good natural wine than a kombucha. It's the funk that makes it interesting.

Pair it with bibimbap, pad thai, bao buns, or dim sum. For something off the beaten path, Sally recommends it with hush puppies. She's not wrong.