Black Bear: Sparkling Tea with a Bold, Alcohol-Free Twist – Exclusive Interview

This drink is EVERYTHING this Summer. Pure British Honey. Cold Brewed Sparkling Tea and the most wonderful ingredients which I will let this Founder tell you all about.

After their recent success at the Summer BBC Good Food Show (Founder Stephen had to drive home on the Friday to get more cans as they all went), we were so excited to showcase them in the JOMO Club August box.

Let's hear more from the Founder about their launch and inspiration.

15% off blackbearhoney.co.uk using. code 'blackbear15'

Q: Welcome for the first time ever to a JOMO box! We are so excited to have you and for our members to discover you. Can you start with an introduction to yourself, we want to get to know you better.

Thank you for including me in this month's box! I am the founder, head brewer, and beekeeper at Black Bear Honey Co.

I'm also a JOMO subscriber who loves discovering the amazing products you curate each month. So, a bit about me: I was born in Canada, grew up in England, and then returned to Canada with my young family in 2012. We settled on the north shore of Vancouver, B.C., surrounded by forests, mountains, the ocean, and, of course, black bears. After many happy years living in Canada, we moved back to England. I've always had a creative spirit, with interests in art and music, and later developing a passion for brewing and beekeeping.

Q: Could you give us a second introduction, this time to Black Bear Honey?

Black Bear Honey Co is an artisan soft drinks company, making a non-alcoholic cold brewed sparkling tea with pure honey. We started selling a few bottles at our local village market. Now, we’ve switched to cans, and have developed three distinctive flavours, which we sell at markets, food festivals and shows all over the country. We also just got our first retail listing. People really seem to have recognised that we use simple, all-natural, good-for-you ingredients to create something completely new.

Q: How did you get into beekeeping and what does beekeeping mean to you?

Receiving a diagnosis for bipolar late on in my life left me in a kind of wilderness. Following our return to England, I knew I needed to find a way to reconnect to nature and regain my balance. I found beekeeping, and I never looked back. I will never forget the first time I opened up a colony of honey bees. The air humming with the mesmerising buzz of hundreds of tiny wings taking flight. Beekeeping changed everything for me. 

Q: You gave up alcohol yourself. If you feel comfortable, could you share why that was and any impact that has had on you? 

Giving up alcohol was part of that same journey towards better mental health.

It was hard at first, because alcohol is such a big part of our culture. I used to stumble over my words when talking about my bipolar, for years, I struggled to open up about it. Having to explain why I wasn’t drinking was stressful, I worried about judgment and wanted to keep it hidden. But over time, I realised that bipolar is just part of who I am. It makes me, me. I've started to embrace the ups and downs that come with the condition, and I have no problem telling people why I don’t drink.. Making the choice to quit entirely was tough, especially since I loved brewing. But honestly, it opened up new doors. It led me right back to the garage—which now served as both my honey extraction room and a tiny brewery—to start experimenting. And I get the satisfaction of knowing I’m adding to the range of quality non-alcoholic options that are out there for people like me. 

Q: What product do we have in front of us? What is your favourite way and setting to enjoy it?

Our sparkling cold brewed tea, made with pure honey from my own beehives, is a new kind of soft drink—not kombucha, sparkling flavoured waters or iced tea. It's truly its own thing. The flavour you have in your box, Apple & Chamomile, features my signature green tea, along with three varieties of pressed apples and chamomile from Herefordshire, and of course my Hampshire honey. You'll notice the natural sweetness and a crisp, slightly tart flavour from the apple blend. These elements are perfectly balanced by the smooth, honeyed tones and calming chamomile. The end result is a truly unique and refreshing drink. Personally, I love to enjoy chilled over ice. Then I just sit back in the garden and watch my honeybees do their thing. Seeing them work always brings a smile to my face.

Q: We also love your other two products and they are such Summery flavours. For those who loved todays drink, can you tell us about the other two?

Our first sparkling cold brewed green tea is how it all started. It's super simple, just two ingredients: chunmee taipan superior green tea, which tastes light, smooth, a bit earthy, grassy, and sweet, plus pure honey. Then there's our pear & elderflower sparkling tea. That one has locally pressed conference and beurre hardy pears and a delicate elderflower alongside the tea and honey. These great ingredients come together for a really balanced and sophisticated flavour profile. It's crisp and fruity, with the sweetness of honey, floral green tea notes, elderflower, and a touch of tartness from the pear.

Q: When creating your drinks, how and why did you come up with the drink you did? Why honey, why sparkling tea and why the other flavours you chose?

I've always loved innovating and experimenting, whether it's with brewing, art or music. Making a soft drink was no different. There are some great non-alcoholic drinks out there, and I love many of the ones featured in JOMO boxes.

Honey is so complex and fun to work with because you'll never get the exact same flavour in every batch. It's a subtle difference, but there's always something surprising, depending on what the bees have foraged throughout the season. That's what I love about it — blending amazing ingredients that all just come together so well. When I chose flavours, I focused on finding British-grown fruits and botanicals that would really harmonise with my honey.

Q: Why was it important to you to use all natural ingredients, free from sweeteners and nasties?

During my experiments with different soft drinks, I would look at what's on the market and be shocked by the long lists of ingredients. Some of these I couldn't pronounce and had no idea what they were. As a beekeeper I don’t need to add sugars or sweeteners. My bees forage on lime, field bean, clover, blackberry, thistle, poppy, and sweet chestnut, to name a few nectar sources. These combined with pressed fruit and botanicals create such intricate flavours that you can't replicate with artificial ones and additives. The ingredients we use offer potential health benefits like antioxidant support, digestive aid, and immune system support, plus a natural sweetness from honey.

Q: Can we have your favourite bee or honey fact?

Honeybees can recognise and remember individual human faces. So keep planting bee-friendly plants; they will thank you for it!