Kombucha, 'Kom-boo-cha' : (noun) a beverage produced by fermenting sweet tea with a culture of yeast and bacteria.
This has always been a drink of interest for me. I heard about it months ago when the craze began then have heard hardly anything about it since. This was a hot commodity because it was praised as a healthy drink so many naturalists and health gurus flocked to stores to buy it. I will start off by saying that I was hesitant. When I was first offered a sip buy a friend at work, I had no idea how she could drink a whole bottle of that stuff. It reeked of vinegar as well as tasted like it. I know that drinking vinegar was one thing but I did not know that kombucha was nearly the same thing.
Since I tried hers, I myself, had to go to the store to buy some so I could try the whole bottle and get the full effects. While the fermentation does cause trace amounts of alcohol to form, those were not the effects I am referring to. I wanted to see if I could gain the same health benefits from drinking this low-calorie alternative drink as I could that people gain by drinking apple cider vinegar. I must admit that the first flavor I tried made it hard to finish the bottle. It was spirulina and pineapple. For those that don't know, spirulina is a dried algae powder that is used for its health benefits. This bottle did not try to conceal its identity or smell which I guess I can appreciate. On that trip though, I did buy two and I must say, the watermelon kiwi flavor was much better. The first day I thought "Wow, this could really work as a diet trick" only because I was not that hungry after drinking it. I think the mix of not having a big breakfast and having a strange vinegary drink did not sit well and made me feel that way. The second day that all went out the window because I had worked out before work so when I did drink it, I was still super hungry.
The following week I purchased two more of different flavors to try, grape and grape black current. The plain grape one was the best by far, and to my mistake, I grabbed a pure drinking vinegar instead of a kombucha (the brand makes both I found out). That grape one, oh that grape one was amazing. It was like drinking grape soda and I would 100% get it again. It was gone in less than 30 minutes. The grape current one was almost as amazing, and this time it was kombucha, it still had that familiar smell but it was so tasty that I didn't care. The vinegary taste kind of gave it a zing.
In all, I would definitely recommend trying out kombucha for yourself, if not for the health benefits, then just for a better-for-you drink. I got all my drinks from Fresh Thyme Market but you can find them online or at any health food/natural grocery store. Let me know down below if you have tried kombucha and if so, what did you think?
