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Fermentation Atlas

Soft drinks from Poland, Lithuania

Podpiwek (Polish "underbeer")podpiwek

Podpiwek is a Polish low-alcohol drink brewed from cereal coffee (roasted barley) and chicory with hops and sugar, fermented by yeast in a closed vessel. It turns lightly fizzy and slightly sour, with a coffee-like, bitter note. Made in 3 steps over 14 days. The longest step, add sugar and yeast; ferment closed, takes 14 days (Staniszewski A 2025). Saccharomyces cerevisiae does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step14 daysReported[staniszewski2025]Add sugar and yeast; ferment closed
AciditypH 6.7Measured[staniszewski2025]Make the wort from cereal coffee, chicory and hops

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceThe sugar amount is from a laboratory study using a commercial base; home recipes vary.
Cereal coffee and ground chicory root with hops · The drink contains no malt[staniszewski2025][smiechowska2018]
500 g per 10 L of wortSucrose · As used in one laboratory study with a commercial podpiwek base[staniszewski2025]
Yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae)[staniszewski2025]
Starterdefined-culture (yeast)

Total time across the recorded steps: 14 days

Start
Drag the bar or press Play
Close-up: water moving into a piecepH 6.7

What changes: Hot water draws colour and flavour from cereal coffee, chicory and hops

Step 1 of 3
Make the wort from cereal coffee, chicory and hops
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
pH 6.7
Measured
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Yeasts
Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Output: sweet wort.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

What makes this one different

Unlike kvass, which is brewed from rye bread or malt, podpiwek is made from cereal coffee and chicory with hops and contains no malt. Some products sold as podpiwek today are diluted, carbonated malt concentrates that are not fermented at all.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Regional podpiwek (kujawski, warmiński, lubuski, with honey)Regional brands and mixes (Polish Wikipedia).

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

Podpiwek is considered traditional to Poland and Lithuania, perhaps from the time of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth; commercial production began in the mid-19th century. It stayed popular until the end of the 1980s as an alternative to scarce bottled soft drinks.

  1. [staniszewski2025] Staniszewski A., Staniszewska P., Komoń-Janczara E., Kordowska-Wiater M. 2025, Probiotic yeast and how to use them, combining traditions and new waves in fermented beverages, Foods 14(16):2921paper
  2. [smiechowska2018] Śmiechowska M., Jakubowski M., Dmowski P. 2018, Nowe trendy na rynku niskoalkoholowych napojów fermentowanych, Kosmos 67paper
  3. [s1] Wikipedia (en, pl), Podpiwek (outline only)wiki