Holistic Sabby ::: My Kombucha Obsession

You have seen me post about it all over social media. If you are friends with me, you have seen me drink it in person. And I have probably tried to convert you at some point to drinking it yourself.
So today I am going to talk a little bit more about my favorite drink : KOMBUCHA!
Say what? Isn’t that the song you sing around the campfire and you are just saying it wrong? NopeIt is a delicious and nutritious drink and I can’t get enough!
So what is it? Basically put, kombucha is fermented tea. It is made from tea, sugar, bacteria and yeast. Then it sits for days and begins to ferment. This combination creates enzymes and good bacteria that improve our stomach health.The health benefit claims range from better digestion, more energy, and even help fight cancer. There are not many actual studies done on the benefits of it but people swear by this drink and all that it does. I personally drink it for the taste above anything else. So I can’t make any health promises on this but I will say that the role of fermented foods in our diets is so important. Our gut health affects so much and getting probiotics from fermented foods is needed. I will say that I had food poisioning on Tuesday and today I am almost good as new. With the aid activated charcoal (which is another post in it’s self), I loaded up on probiotic rich foods. This included kombucha, fermented carrots, beets, and garlic. So there is something to be said about fermented foods and their benefits. I just can’t enough of the taste. Since I don’t drink pop, this is almost the same feeling as drinking it. It’s fizzy and tart with a hint of sweetness. The first time I tasted kombucha was with my mom and I couldn’t stand it. I thought she was crazy. But then I eased my way into it buying it at the store and became hooked. I would recommend buying it at the store first for new kombucha drinkers. It is a milder taste and you get used to it. That got to be an expensive habit though because I was spending about $20 a week just on this! So we have been brewing at home now and I love it just as much. Our process is starting with green or black tea and mixing it with sugar. At first the amount of sugar scared me, but the bacteria feeds on the sugar and converts it. So you aren’t just drinking straight sugar. Then we put the scoby on top and let the fermenting happen! The scoby is a live organism that contains the yeast and bacteria. The scoby then eats the sugar and grows. You actually can separate the scoby to make another batch. We let ours ferment between 10-14 days. The longer it goes the less sweet it is. Then after that time we add flavors and let it sit a few more days in individual bottles. Strawberry ginger is my favorite! Here is our kombucha shelf. My dad shakes his head at my mom and I, but we love it.

Here are our brewing jars. We get about 8-9 bottles from one big jar of these. We mark it so that we don’t lose track of time and know what tea we started with.

The picture on the right shows the scoby which is the magic ingredient. It tends to gross people out because it is this slimy thing that grows, but it is pretty cool!

So there is a little more info on kombucha! I have to laugh at myself because I sound like a total hippie, health freak. A year ago, I didn’t know anything about health and now I talk and research about gut health and enzymes and probiotics all the time. Good stuff

To learn more about it, I would research it! There are both sides of the camp about whether it is beneficial or not. I for one would drink it even there wasn’t all of that good bacteria!

Feel free to ask any questions and if you live by me you can always try some