In the early hours of Monday 22 June 2026, the Czider factory in Gelse – the artisanal cider workshop where Orsi and Kata have been working since 2012 to bring and free from additives.

Fortunately, no one was injured. However, the building, the recently purchased and commissioned high-value equipment, and the entire stock were destroyed. Production came to a sudden halt, and it is not yet known when it can resume.

Orsi is an economist, Kata a psychologist. Gradually stepping back from their long-standing careers in multinational companies, they set about realising their dream. The story began back in Vértesboglár in 2012, in a small workshop set up in a family home, where many of us were able to be part of those early years as friends, family members or helpers. We bottled, labelled and packed by hand, and at the end of the day we often celebrated our work with a cold cider.

In 2019, the story continued in Gelsén, near an apple orchard. The facility was completed in 2020 following a massive investment, funded partly by grants and partly by a loan. This was the place where Czider could finally be produced under the conditions Orsi and Kata had always wanted: using high-quality apples from Zala County, with natural fermentation and no artificial additives. The new facility provided an opportunity for Czider to reach an ever-wider audience and for Hungarian cider culture to begin to take root, slowly but surely. This facility has now been destroyed by fire.

The greatest loss is the specialised production technology. As there is no insurance cover, we are currently unable to replace the equipment using our own resources; therefore, external help is now needed to give us any chance at all of starting afresh.

The funds raised will be used for the following:

• demolition and restoration work following the fire,
• replacing the most essential production equipment and reorganising the factory,
• and to ensure that Orsi and Kata can keep their heads above water until production resumes.

Every donation brings us closer to ensuring that ‘Have an apple! Pure.’ is once again not just a memory, but a reality bottled up in a bottle.

Thank you for contributing to the rebuild.

Thank you for sharing the fundraising campaign.

And thank you for all the trust, love and support that Orsi, Kata and Czider have received over the past few years.

On behalf of Orsi and Kata too: thank you.