Kombucha - What is it really?
December 2, 2008
Kombucha is a healthy drink made out of fermenting tea and sugar with the kombucha culture. As a result of mixing up those ingredients, you get a drink with a taste that’s something in the middle of sparkling apple cider and champagne. It’s definitely not what you would normally expect from a fermented tea in terms of taste.
It looks as if the actual origins of kombucha have become lost in the course of time. However, it’s widely considered that kombucha originated in the Far East, most likely China, where it has been consumed for at least two thousand years. The first documented use of kombucha comes from 221 BC in China, during the Tsin Dynasty, and it was labeled as the “The Tea of Immortality”. For several hundred years, it has been used in Japan, Russia, Eastern Europe. From Russia, it made its way to Poland, Germany and Denmark, but it looks like the interest died out during World War Two.
Kombucha is a colony or culture of yeast and other microorganisms inside a pure cellulose “pancake.” When this pancake (excuse for the expression) grows in a mixture of tea and sugar, it converts the entire liquid into one very refreshing, sweet and sour drink full of nutrients and health benefits. It’s interesting to point out that the Kombucha culture feeds on the sugar and, in exchange, produces other important components which change into the drink: amino acids, vitamins, glucuronic acid, glucon acid, lactic acid, antibiotic substances, 0.5% to 1% alcohol is produced as well as other products.
As mentioned, kombucha is made out of fermented tea, so it contains certain amount of alcohol (0.5% to 1%), but can you get drunk from it? Well, you might, but take into account that considering the amount of alcohol contained in it, you will have to drink an entire gallon of kombucha to match the drinking a half can of beer. Or in other words, kombucha tea has the same amount of alcohol as a fermented piece of fruit. Although this really low amount of alcohol won’t get you drunk, it’s a great addition to the tea, as it provides many beneficial effects. Not only does it aid in circulation in our bodies and, helping with our lymphatic system, but alcohol also works as a preservative allowing your tea to brew and ferment continuously, with out ever requiring refrigeration as long as the kombucha culture is in contact with it and the brewing container has a breathable cloth on top.
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