How it all started
It all started with vinegars, continued through the apple orchards of our ancestors, and ended with cider. We are a family of apple enthusiasts, and for us, cider isn’t a sweet soda, but a complex drink that deserves a place on the table alongside the finest wines.
How a chef in Australia became a cider maker in Czechia
Our story began far from Czech orchards. During his time as a chef in Australia, Kryštof fell under the spell of fermentation and working with high-quality vinegars. When he returned home, he and his cousin inherited an old apple orchard full of traditional Czech varieties. The plan was clear: to make honest apple vinegar.
But the road to vinegar leads through cider. And as they tasted the first results of fermentation, the cider enchanted them so much that it became the center of their world. Today, the project is run by Kryštof and his wife Kristýna – Kryštof, who oversees production, and Kristýna, originally a chemist, who manages the precise analysis of the ciders. And even though the cousin is no longer part of the team, the name Cousins remains as a nostalgic memory of the beginnings.
Our vision: Cider as a
gastronomic experience
We want to break the myth in Czechia that cider is just an oversweetened bubbly drink. Our goal is to show that cider can have depth,
character, and body. That it pairs perfectly with food and that its taste reflects the terroir of our orchards.
Our main passion in various forms
From tree to bottle
4 hectares of honest nature
Our orchards are the foundation. We manage 4 hectares of land where old Czech varieties inherited from an uncle meet new plantings of traditional cider apples (Spanish, French, and English varieties). Two years ago, we planted a new small orchard, but it’s only just starting to bear fruit. Our apples are grown without any chemical treatments or sprays, as we believe that what we give to the soil, it returns to us in the flavor of the juice.
Alchemy of varieties We combine the best from home and the world:
Czech apples: They give our cider the right fruity freshness and sweet-sour balance.
France and Spain: We have also started working with classic cider varieties. These have a high proportion of tannins, which give the drink “body” and that much-desired depth and character.
Sustainability in practice We strive for a closed loop. The pressed apple pomace doesn’t end up as waste here – it goes directly to our neighbors as feed for horses and cows.
How is Cousins Cider made?
We don’t rush. Most of our ciders rest for at least a year in stainless steel tanks before they go into bottles.
For special editions, we also use oak barrels, which add further tannins to the apple profile and deepen the cider’s character.
Our cider is alive, unfiltered, with no added sugar, aromas, or colorants.
The result is liquid apple in its honest golden form.