If you want proof that Christmas has stopped waiting politely for December, look at the chilled shelves, where Remedy's limited-edition Merry Cherry kombucha has turned up weeks early and, to my considerable surprise, proved rather good.
I’m not normally a kombucha fan, so consider this a confession: it doesn’t taste like the kombucha I know, and the floral note it leaves at the back of the mouth and nose has me eyeing the shop fridge with intent.
Verdict: a qualified yes, from someone who arrived as a qualified no.
Merry Cherry at a glance
- Price: £2.95 recommended, for a 700ml sharing bottle
- Where: Sainsbury’s, Ocado and other retailers, plus online at remedydrinks.co.uk
- Brewed: 30 days, sparkling and live cultured
- Per 300ml serving: five calories and 0g of sugar, with 2.3 servings per bottle
- The pledge: 10p a bottle to Social Bite
- The catch: limited edition, for a limited time only, so no dithering
What does Merry Cherry kombucha taste like?
Not like kombucha, which is rather the point. The familiar kombucha taste simply isn’t there. The twist came at the back of the mouth and nose, where a floral smell and taste settled in like a guest who has found the good armchair: quiet, comfortable and entirely welcome. It’s an oddly specific thing to say about a cherry drink. It’s also exactly what happened.
Remedy’s own tasting notes read like a dessert menu — juicy, ripe cherry meeting white chocolate, raspberry and biscuit, with a light fizz and a tart, fresh edge. Your palate may assemble the pieces differently. Mine went floral.
What Is in the Bottle?
Remedy, which describes itself as a better-for-you soft drinks brand, calls Merry Cherry a sparkling, live cultured kombucha brewed for 30 days. It says the drink is naturally sugar-free, vegan and gluten-free.
Ocado’s listing puts numbers on it. The nutrition panel shows 0g of sugars per 100ml. The ingredients include steviol glycosides from stevia as a sweetener, with erythritol listed as a flavour enhancer. A serving is 300ml, so the 700ml bottle holds 2.3 of them, at five calories each. No sugar is not the same as no sweetener, which matters if you’re avoiding either.
The brief, as Remedy tells it, was festive indulgence without the sugar: “Christmas is basically an extreme sport for your gut,” says Santino Luciano, Managing Director UK & Europe at Remedy. “We wanted to create something that rose to the occasion – all the nostalgic, festive flavour that people love, with none of the sugar and none of the artificial ingredients.
Merry Cherry is indulgent, celebratory and unmistakably Remedy packed with live cultures and antioxidants. There’s no sugar here – you’re sweet enough!”
Take the live cultures and antioxidants as selling points rather than a prescription. A bottle of kombucha is a pleasant thing to hold at a party, not a cure for a month of mince pies.
The Alcohol-Free and Low-Alcohol Shift Behind the Launch
The timing looks canny. Drinkaware’s 2025 research found that 44% of UK drinkers now use alcohol-free or low-alcohol drinks to moderate their drinking, up from 31% in 2018. Among young adults, the figure is 49%, up from 28%. Remedy cites the same figures in arguing that Merry Cherry arrives at the right moment.
Those numbers describe drinking habits rather than kombucha, but the commercial logic carries over. People cutting back still want something worth pouring on Christmas Day, and a limited edition is a low-pressure way to ask a hesitant shopper to try something new.
Social Bite and Where the 10p Goes
For every bottle of Merry Cherry sold, Remedy donates 10p to Social Bite, which works with people experiencing homelessness. The pledge supports Social Bite’s Festival of Kindness campaign, and there is a QR code on the pack for anyone who wants to give more.
Sara Rees, Director of Fundraising and Partnerships at Social Bite, says: “A huge thank you to Remedy for supporting Social Bite’s Festival of Kindness campaign with their delicious Merry Cherry kombucha. Every bottle sold will help provide more meals, gifts and support for thousands of people affected by homelessness and food poverty across the UK this Christmas and throughout the coldest months of the year.
“Social Bite believes in a society where no one should have to be homeless. It’s brilliant to know that Merry Cherry will provide a conversation starter in communities nationwide and help drive awareness of homelessness this winter.”
Ten pence from a £2.95 recommended price is just over 3p in the pound. Modest, then, but attached to every bottle sold, and the final total depends on how many go through the tills.
Pros and Cons
The good
- Doesn’t taste like standard kombucha, which is the whole appeal for a doubter
- A pleasant floral smell and taste
- 0g of sugars per 100ml on the nutrition panel, and five calories per 300ml serving
- Vegan and gluten-free, by Remedy’s account
- A 700ml sharing bottle at a recommended £2.95
- 10p from every bottle goes to Social Bite
The caveats
- Limited edition, on sale for a limited time only
- Kombucha loyalists may miss the familiar taste
- Contains sweeteners (steviol glycosides, erythritol), if you’d rather avoid them
- Floral is a matter of taste, and not everyone wants flowers in their fizz
Who Is It Best For?
Kombucha doubters, first and foremost: if you’ve written the drink off, this is a low-risk way back in. Hosts who fancy putting something in a wine glass alongside the usual bottles will find Remedy has had the same thought, since it suggests serving it that way. And anyone cutting back on alcohol over the festive season gets a sharing bottle to pass round.
One caveat. If you avoid alcohol entirely, read the label first, because fermented drinks can carry trace amounts.
Is It Worth It? Price and Where to Buy
Worth it? For a curious doubter, yes. At a recommended £2.95 for 700ml, Merry Cherry kombucha is priced to be tried rather than agonised over. It is on sale now at Sainsbury’s and Ocado, among other retailers, and online at remedydrinks.co.uk, for a limited time only.
Kombucha has a reputation for asking you to be virtuous before the first sip. Merry Cherry asks only that you pour it, and hands back something floral for your trouble. For a reluctant drinker, that is a better result than most Christmas launches manage.
