“Don’t get high on your own supply”, we often say in the wine business.

But my life suddenly changed when I met Elsa from Atelier Particulier de Fermentation.

I met her in January 2024 in Paris thanks to Le Paris des Sens, her Parisian friend and now agent. Among fifty winemakers’ stalls, she was the only one to offer alcohol free products. Her labels and the colour of the beverages really caught my eyes 👀 and teased my tastebuds 🤙. From the very first sip, I knew that this was the products that my partners in Amsterdam were looking for 🫵

Based near Colmar in France, Elsa is a former sommelier who trained herself in alcohol-free pairings. Prior to her 5 years in horeca, she learned herbs and flowers, biodynamic agriculture and essential oil making in Italy. Wanting to get closer and closer to the actual making process, she started to experiment on alcohol free kombucha & kéfir in her spare time, at home. After two years of running tests, Elsa officially launched Atelier Particulier de Fermentation in Alsace 🚀

Besides Kefirs, she produces a rare and kind of miraculous product called JUN, an ancestor of Kombucha, also called Champagne of Kombucha in France. To be honest, I always find the expression 'Champagne of..." a bit pretentious 😅. However, I do understand why it’s called like this. It is a softer drink, more delicate, less acidic, flavourful and at the difference of Kombucha which is produced with white sugar, JUN is made from wild honey 🐝

To me, the product is a little revolution. While alcohol free cider contains 108 gr of sugar per liter (yup, it's Coca Cola in disguise), hers contains less than 5 🤯. The alcohol level is also low compared to Kombucha. Less than 0.5% ABV. Some of them, like Christine, are lab tested at 0.29%.

I’m very happy to bring her products to the Netherlands as Elsa’s production is small and will remain small to keep quality high 🙌

In Amsterdam, you can find her products in La Dilettante, De Kas, Daalder, FC Hyena, Trees, Gertrude, Cafe Modern, Cafe De Parel, Brasserie Chez Nina, Klaproos and hopefully many more.