When making your cup of tea, do you add honey? How about milk? Lemon perhaps? All of these additions seem pretty common and widely accepted, but for years, centuries even, people have been adding bacteria.
Yes, bacteria.
Kombucha, a drink made of tea, sugar, bacteria, and yeast, has been around for centuries, so don’t call it a Health Fad. It is a fermented tea that’s been around for about 2,000 years, originating in East Asia. Kombucha is often called the “Immortal Health Elixir” by the Chinese and is known for its many health benefits. Said to benefit the brain, skin, heart, and gut, Kombucha is here to stay and here’s why you should be drinking it too!
Kombucha is rich in probiotics. The drink goes through a fermentation process that results in a tart, carbonated beverage. Made with black and/or green tea, sugar from various sources (honey, cane sugar, fruit), and specific strains of bacteria and yeast, kombucha sits for a week or more. During this brewing time or fermentation, it develops a top layer. This top layer is known as SCOBY, a symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast, and can be used to ferment a new batch of kombucha.
Through this process, the kombucha develops acidic compounds, including vinegar, which would explain why so many people compare kombucha’s taste to that of vinegar. The process also produces trace levels of alcohol and gas, hence the carbonation. The bacteria produced in the fermentation process are good bacteria that can improve your health in many ways. The bacteria found in kombucha are also found in