What is Kombucha Tea?
Kombucha drinks are different than traditional teas. Kombucha is a cake-like colony of bacteria and yeast, often referred to as a mushroom. It is prepared by adding sugar, water and tea (usually green or black tea) to create a sweet (yet sour) fermented beverage that resembles both wine and tea simultaneously. Sometimes kombucha is powdered and added to green or black tea in tea bags and steeped like traditional tea. Kombucha Health Benefits Kombucha advocates claim the tea can produce such health benefits as extending your life span, improving digestion, detoxifying the body, thickening the hair and dissolving gall stones. It is taken for a large range of reasons – to calm the nervous system, to ward off colds and to deal with chronic headaches. Most people who drink any sort of kombucha drink report feeling slightly intoxicated, calm and euphoric. However, when scientists put kombucha to the test, they found little to support many of the health claims associated with the tea. The mos
In his book, “Kombucha, Manchurian Tea Mushroom, The Essential Guide,” Christopher Hobbs defines Kombucha Tea as follows: “Kombucha Tea is a traditional fermented food, and its health effects are perhaps best understood in that context. “cultured” foods are foods that have some kind of bacteria, fungus, or other organism growing on or in them which enhance the food’s flavor, digestibility, or nutritional value, as well as acting as a preservative. Examples of cultured foods, (and drinks), traditionally eaten in Europe, the Mediterranean area, and/or the Middle East include yogurt, sauerkraut, kefir, olives, pickles, and of course beer, wine, vinegar, cheese, cottage cheese, and buttermilk. Cultured foods traditionally eaten in certain parts of Asia include various soy sauces, shoyu or tamari, tempeh, mochi, amasake, and kimchee, as well as beers and wines.
