Under “Tea Novelties” from Volume 2 of the encyclopedia:
“TEA CIDER
Tea cider was known in Germany as early as 1911, and is said to have been introduced from the Orient. In 1933, experiments with its manufacture were begun in Java and Ceylon.
The process of manufacture is comparatively simple. An ordinary infusion of tea, using 1 1/2 to 2 ounces of tea to a gallon of boiling water, is strained from the leaves and to the liquor 10 per cent of sugar is added; i.e., 1 pound of sugar to 1 gallon of liquor. This is cooled and placed in an open, dust-proof jar. The ferment, or yeast, is added and converts the sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide gas, which latter escapes. The alcohol is then converted into acetic acid by he bacterium. These reactions give the cider its character. The yeast used appears to be a mixture of fungi, only two of which are of importance, according to Dr. C.H. Gadd of the Tea Research Institute of Ceylon. One of these is a yeast, Saccharomycodes ludwigi, and the other a baccillus, Bacterium xylinum. The particular yeast does not apparently matter, although the specific bacterium named is important, since it gives the characteristic odor and flavor to tea cider.
The sugared infusion is sweet at first, but the sweetness gradually disappears as the yeast begins to work, and acidity develops. The degree of sweetness or acidity is a matter of taste which decides when fermentation shall be stopped. The time required for fermentation depends on the temperature and may be as long as two or three days.
When the infusion has attained the right flavor and taste it is filtered through a thick, double cloth and bottled in vessels completely filled and tightly corked. The absence of air stays the action o the bacterium, but the yeast continues to work and produce gass, which gives an effervescence to the liquor. The cider should be kept in a cool place, well stoppered. It seldom contains more than one per cent alcohol. A tea vinegar also can be prepared by allowing the ferment to proceed for about a month. Then the vinegar is strained, boiled, and bottled.”
Although it appears that the kombucha bottling factories in Java did not survive World War II, the kombucha culture used was salvaged and was still in use in 1990 when a Japanese researcher found the Indonesian locals still brewing it. He wrote a paper on the Indonesian kombucha that is available online here. I do not know what happened to tea cider in Sri Lanka, although it was still known in the late 1960s… is it still made there?
