Two women living in Kingston have launched a business selling their self-brewed, traditional Eastern European drink.

Friends Dasha and Masha moved to Kingston from Russia after the war in Ukraine started and realised they missed Kvass, an old Slavic drink popular in countries across Eastern Europe, including Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia .

Thus, they started brewing their own version of Kvass in Dasha's kitchen in Kingston before launching Garna Kvass last month.

In an exclusive interview with Nub News, Dasha said: "Kvass is an ancient fermented grain drink with a thousand-year history. We both grew up drinking it.

"When we moved to London, we realised how much we missed it — so we started brewing it at home in Kingston. It turned out really well, and somehow that kitchen experiment became Garna.

"Our kvass is dry, refreshing, gently tangy, and made without any added sugar.

"We recently brewed our first proper batch with Bianca Road Brew Co in Bermondsey, which feels very right for a drink we were reimagining for our London life."

She added: "We noticed that the younger generation, especially Gen Z, drink less alcohol or they don't like the taste, so they want some alternatives, but actually the market hasn't got a lot of alternatives.

"It does have Kombucha, non alcoholic beer, maybe Coke Zero, but nothing interesting. So we decided to produce this adult non-alcoholic alternative."

Masha explained that the pair are producing non-sweet Kvass. She said that this "works well at the dinner table as an alternative to wine".

Masha added: "The initial idea was to bring our childhood drink to London, but make it modern, and make it suit modern British tables."

She explained that Dasha "loves cooking" - hence why they started brewing Garna Kvass in Dasha's kitchen and developed the new recipe themselves with help from different people in the industry.

"So, it's Dasha's own recipe," she said.

In fact, when the pair first moved to London, Dasha worked as a chef at a Michelin-starred restaurant near Green Park.

Dasha said: "I eventually moved on, but cooking stayed with me, and I think it helped me to develop our recipe."

The pair had been friends for six years in Russia before moving to London, and started getting creative together - making short films and documentaries.

"We just really liked our collaboration style, and we decided to collaborate further," Masha said.

Speaking about why she chose to bring Kvass to London, Dasha said: When I was doing my master's degree in London, we would go to the pub after our classes, and I noticed that a lot of people just don't drink alcohol, and I got curious.

"So, I did some research, and it turned out that Gen Z drinks a lot less than Millennials and other generations before them.

"There is a huge gap on the market for non-alcoholic alternatives. So, I learned these numbers, and again, we love Kvass, and we've been drinking it since we were kids, so the idea came up.

"We thought 'So we have this amazing drink that we believe would fit the London market and the London environment, so why don't we try and bring it here?'

"It all started with nostalgia, really, which is common when you live in a new country."

Speaking about Kvass, Dasha said: "It is basically a fermented grain drink. Some people in the Soviet Union made it with bread because it was easier and more accessible. But we decided to produce an even older version, similar to how they did it in Russian villages many centuries ago.

"Back then they made it with grain, and they fermented it first with lactic acid, and lactic acid gives this Kombucha-like sourness to the drink.

"Then they fermented it with yeast, but we use non-alcoholic yeast to keep the ABB below 0.5%. So, we use double fermentation to produce the drink.

"You can make it sweet if you add sugar, but the philosophy behind our product is that we want it to be healthy, so we don't add any additional sugars. We make ours with just grain, water, and thyme.

"It's sour, it's refreshing, it's fizzy, and not sweet at all, and we think it's perfect for the summer and heatwaves as well. It's like an adult version of lemonade and other fizzy drinks you find."

Having tried Garna Kvass myself, while it took me a few sips to get used to the slightly sour and grainy taste, I can definitely agree that it is super refreshing and perfect for summer, as well as being a solid healthy alternative to traditional fizzy pop.

To help with the bitterness, I added a dash of Pepsi and it was absolutely delicious.

Masha added: "Some people compare it to sour beer, some people compare it to natural wine, and some people compare it to natural soda. For example, Jordan - the guy who brews our Kvass in our brewery - said it tastes as if Mother Nature created Cola, which I agree with because the taste is really, really natural."

When asked if kids would like the taste of Garna Kvass, Dasha said that her 15-year-old stepson and his friends are "in love with the drink".

They always ask for more," she said.

However, Dasha explained, as kids tend to prefer sweeter drinks, Garna Kvass is aimed at adults.

She said: "Adults often search for more difficult tastes like sourness or bitterness, and we wanted to make our drink feel more adult, but it doesn't mean that kids can't drink it, and they obviously can if they like this adult taste.

"Perhaps this generation of kids is different."

Masha said that she believes Garna Kvass will become the next Kombucha.

She added: "Some people don't like Kombucha because it's too sour and also it has this healthy vibe that doesn't fit every person.

"But Kvass is something that you can actually drink in the pub because the grain in it and the colour of it and the filling give it a beer feeling, which I think makes it more approachable to a British audience."

Dasha said that Garna Kvass can also be mixed with other drinks like coffee or even cocktails and other alcoholic drinks, which Kombucha cannot.

She said: "We are currently working with a barman who is helping us develop cocktail recipes.

"We already have a really popular recipe called Kosecca, which is a mix of Garna Kvass and Prosecco with peach liquor, but it's not that alcoholic because we mix it with around 50 per cent ofKvass, which is not alcoholic.

"But it's a really nice cocktail. It's easy to drink, and people love it."

The pair are also developing mocktail recipes.

Masha said: "For example, you can mix Kvass and coffee, and it's kind of similar to iced coffee. It's refreshing and energising. So, we're developing recipes because our idea is to explain something unfamiliar through something familiar to people in Britain.

"So, if we mix it with familiar ingredients, we'll make Kvass more familiar to a British audience as well."

Despite having only launched Garna Kvass two weeks ago, Masha and Dasha hope to bring their drink to organic shops, small, independent cafes, and restaurants, and then into pubs.

The pair said that they "love Kingston" and that it is "an amazing place", but they hope to expand their business across London.

Garna Kvass can be bought in packs of six for £17.99, packs of 12 for £32.99 or packs of 24 for £59.99.

You can find out more about Garner Kvass and order a pack via its website here.