Kombucha - A Magic Potion Or A Toxic Drink?
October 17, 2008
There has been an ongoing debate as to whether Kombucha is a magic portion or a useless and even toxic drink. Scientists from all over the world have started to make research after research trying to reveal the mystery behind this ancient beverage. Thousands of years ago, people started drinking Kombucha and there is historic evidence to back it up. Kombucha has been reported to help against a large number of diseases, as a matter of fact, the number is so large that people get sceptical over it.
The Kombucha tea is gaining popularity all over the country at a tremendous pace. Now, with the trend of living and eating healthy, the growing interest in Kombucha seems quite normal as more and more people are turning to traditional medicine based on herbs. Some reporsts say that right now, more than three million Americans are growing the fungi.
When it gets fermented, Kombucha creates a sparkling beverage, similar to wine and apple juice in taste. Friends of the drink claim that it improves vitality, raises T-cell numbers, lowers blood pressure, eases aches and pains of arthritis. Others thouhg, share the opinion that it’s nothing more than a marketing trick and could even be dangerous.
Paul Stamets who works as a mycologist in Olympia, Washington says the following regarding Kombucha: “This is potent stuff and the risk for contamination is high. It could be a fabulous addition to drug therapies, but we have little idea of what it is, no idea what its side effects are and no doubt that it can become contaminated by spores in the air. You could kill yourself or your friends with a contaminated culture.” Yet, the Fedeal Food and Drug Administration has not received a single report of adverse reactions related to Kombucha.
Bottom line is that if Kombucha is not properly cultivated, there is a serious risk of contamination, so it’s important that you are able to acquire a safe Kombucha. The drink definitely works, since so many people are crazy about it, but it’s of critical importance to cultivate it carefully with the necessary know-how.
You can make Kombucha tea in your home at a really low cost. The entire preparation process is quite easily if you know what you’re doing. When you work clean and add the required substances in the right direction, there is no doubt that you will have an excellent Kombucha beverage. If you are following proven instructions, you can definitely produce a tasty and effective drink without any health risks involved.
Kombucha - Elexir of Life?
October 3, 2008
The Kombucha has been widely regard for thousands of years now as the Elexir of Life. Although there aren’t that many scientific proofs to back up such claims, considering the large amount of people benefiting it from it, there has got to be something about Kombucha which makes it such a popular beverage. Although the use of Kombucha tea dates back two thousand years ago, it became a popular product for the masses just recently. It has a taste similar to no other, because it’s first sweetened and then fermented. The fermentation process neutralizes most of the sugar along with the caffeine, leaving just a hint of delightfully, vinegar-like taste. Brands producing Kombucha tea just keep popping up as this product is becoming the latest hot drink on the American beverage market. You should definitely try it, and most likely, you will get to enjoy it for its delightful and unusual taste along with its health benefits.
Kombucha is the word used to describe not only the drink itself, but also the fungus used to brew it. Kombucha contains less caffeine than a regular tea, since as it was already pointed out, it looses a certain amount of its caffeine during the fermentation process, as well as portion of the sugar. The true believers drink Kombucha every day based on the idea that they will be healthier and live longer. But, those claims are yet to be proven by scientists.
Kombucha is a substance similar to fungus, or better yet, a symbiotic colony of lactobacillus bacteria and yeast. According to the history facts concerning Kombucha, it was first used by the Qin (Tsin) Dynasty of China (221 B.C.E.). The name Kom-bu-cha comes from a Korean physician called Kom-bu, who was the first to introduce the beverage to the Japanese Emperor Ingyo in the year 414 C.E. as a drink with healing properties. After that, it became known as tea of Kom-bu.
The Kombucha culture is usually imported from China, Nepal and Siberia. The Kombucha tea is made by fermenting a given type of sweetened tea (it could be black tea, white tea, Oolong tea) with the special cultures of yeasts and the bacteria known as Kombucha mushroom. It’s not really a mushroom, but that’s how people call it because of its shape and color when it starts forming on top of the tea after the fermentation process. But the thing is that there are lot of different preparation methods and different cultures that can be used, that’s why there are so many different Kombucha teas, although the main ingredients in the final product is still pretty much the same. Once the beverage is finally made, it contains a certain amount of alcohol, acetic acid and ethyl acetate.
The History of Kombucha
September 16, 2008
The history of kombucha tea is really interesting. First of all, this beverage actually has more than 80 different names, simply based on the culture and area it’s found. All cultures who have tried it, say that it has a range of beneficial effects and modern studies have supported many of these claims. Kombucha Tea is a fermented drink, made from tea, sugar, and a Kombucha culture known as a mushroom.
One interesting fact about the history of kombucha is that Japanese warriors considered the properties of kombucha so special that they were going into the battle field with it carrying it in their field masks. This must be one of the few instances where tea is fermented on the move. Historical archives indicate that their habit was to top up the ferment in their hip flasks with freshly brewed tea. They considered it to be a refreshing and strengthening beverage and the spiritual Zen Masters considered Kombucha to be a source of chi, which is the live giving energy inside a person and harmonises the body and mind with the soul.
Tom Valentine wrote a book on kombucha, here is a quote from it: “Kombucha culture has been used for hundreds of years by the Asiatic people of his homeland because of its surprising success as the most effective natural folk remedy for fatigue, lassitude, nervous tension, incipient signs of old age, hardening of the arteries, sluggishness of the bowels, gout and rheumatism, hemorrhoids and diabetes.”
The earliest documented consumption of Kombucha tea dates back to the Chinese Qin Dynasty of 221BC. In ancient documents from that period, kombucha tea is referred to as ‘The elixir of life’. There is even a reference in the Bible regarding kombucha:
“Ruth 2:14 Ruth 2 Ruth 2:13-15 And Boaz said unto her, At mealtime come thou hither, and eat of the bread, and dip thy morsel in the vinegar. And she sat beside the reapers: and he reached her parched corn, and she did eat, and was sufficed, and left.”
Although it’s not mentioned directly, it can hardly be anything other than kombucha.
As trade routes expanded beyond the Far East, Kombucha, carried by traders, made its way into Russia, India and Eastern Europe, arriving in Germany around the turn of the 20th Century. Quite soon, people throughout Europe started enjoying kombucha, until World War II broke started. By the early 1960s, Kombucha’s popularity started to rise again.
Nowadays, Kombucha tea is going through a rejuvenation, something like a further resurgence of popularity across the whole world, even in Hollywood. Madonna, Cher, Barbra Streisand, Alec Baldwin, Susan Sarandon and Meg Ryan are just few of the starts who enjoy the miracle drink.
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