Oak in a Non-Alcoholic Drink: What We Have Seen So Far
Kombucha, mocktails, iced teas, cold brew coffee, table vinegars: we have been getting calls about these uses for a few years now. We answer cautiously, because our measurements were made in wine.
We have no market figure to give you, only what we see coming through: enquiries from bartenders, from kombucha brewers and from a few beverage manufacturers. Enough for the question to deserve an article, not enough for us to claim we have mastered the subject.
Does oak really extract without alcohol?
Yes, and it is the first thing people do not believe. Water, organic acids and sugars are solvents for part of the wood's compounds: vanillin, lactones, phenolic compounds, wood sugars. Alcohol extracts more of them and faster, it is not the price of entry.
What changes is the kinetics. Without alcohol, extraction is slower and does not draw the same compounds in the same proportions. What we taste is often more discreet, sometimes cleaner. We have no publishable extraction curve for a kombucha at pH 3 or for a cold-brewed tea, and we do not want to invent one from our trials on wine.
Which format: chips or tannins?
Two routes, depending on whether you can accept a maceration. The products we consider relevant for these drinks are gathered in the No & Low Alcohol category of the shop.
- Chips go straight into the drink, in a mesh or an infusion bag, then come out. In wine, our contact benchmark is 1 month minimum, and 2 to 3 months to reach the extraction plateau. On a non-alcoholic drink, count in days instead and taste often: that is the only protocol we stand behind today.
- Liquid tannins are dosed with a pipette, with no maceration and no filtration afterwards. They are at a 20 % concentration, which means 1 L of liquid is the equivalent of 200 g of powder. It is the simplest route for continuous production or for a bar.
| Format | Our contact benchmark, measured in wine | What we suggest on a non-alcoholic drink |
|---|---|---|
| Fine chips, pieces of at least 2 mm | 1 month minimum, 2 to 3 months to reach the plateau | Count in days. Taste every day and pull the wood out as soon as it reaches the level you want. |
| Liquid tannins, at 20 %, so 1 L for 200 g of powder | Dosed with a pipette, no maceration and no filtration | Run the drop by drop trial on one litre: you have your answer within the hour. |
A word on piece size: our fine chips stay above 2 mm in order to comply with the oenological Codex. Below that we are talking about powder, which falls outside that framework. That framework was written for wine. If your drink falls under another regulation, it is for you to check what applies, and we will supply the documents we hold.
Which profile for which drink?
The Primary Colors each carry one character, to be blended: #12 Fruité for freshness, on a kombucha or an iced tea; #13 Vanillé for the roundness of a mocktail that evokes an aged classic; #22 Toffee, caramel and crème brûlée, on a cold brew; #24 Black Coffee for the roasted register; #14 Épicé for winter hot drinks. La Recette offers the same characters already blended.
These descriptors come from our tastings in wine. In an acidic, sugary matrix they do not sit in the same place, and some come through far more than others. Run a trial on one litre before turning it into a recipe.
Where to start
With a ridiculous volume and a low dose. For a tannin, the drop-by-drop trial gives you an answer within the hour: the protocol is described here. For chips, take the smallest pack size in the No & Low Alcohol category and taste every day.
We are still learning about these drinks, and our benchmarks come from a different product than yours. If a figure we give does not hold at your place, write to us: we would rather correct it than defend it.
Read next : Non-Alcoholic Wines and Oak: Insights from the Bologna Seminar · Coffee, pastry, chocolate: oak outside the cellar