Kombucha TeaMakes Me Happy

Dateline: 5 September 2015

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I think Kombucha tea is the liquid equivalent of banjo music... it just makes me happy.

For those who don't already know, Kombucha tea is a fermented, vinegar-like drink. Kombucha is laden with live, active, probiotic cultures. Kombucha has been around for centuries. Kombucha is purported to be a drink that promotes "general health and well being," which is another way of saying, "it makes you feel good," which is another way of saying, "it makes you happy."  Think banjo music.

I have known about kombucha for many years. Somebody in my way-past (whom I can not recall) made it. But I avoided it. The slimy mother culture and sediment turned me off. This memory goes back before Marlene and I started making our own apple cider vinegar.

Then, a few months ago, my youngest son, James, bought himself a bottle of GT's Cosmic Cranberry kombucha...

He took one sip. It wasn't what he expected. So he brought it home and gave it to Dad. A bottle of GT's kombucha costs nearly four bucks, and I wasn't about to let it go to waste. I took a sip, and it was good. Fizzy vinegar. That's what it tasted like. With some cranberry flavor.

Marlene liked it too. I did some research. We ended up buying some bottles of GT's kombucha for ourselves. We have been drinking the stuff all summer. Actually, we don't drink it. We sip it, a little at a time, to stretch out a bottle. GT's is an expensive habit. But, like I said, it makes me happy.

There is a subtle but very real boost of energy and stamina that comes when I drink kombucha.

Those who get hooked on the happiness of store-bought kombucha eventually make their own. It is a WHOLE LOT cheaper to make your own. And that's where Marlene and I are now. She has made a one-gallon batch, and another is fermenting in the pantry now.

As simple as it is, there is a learning curve to making your own kombucha. Marlene's first batch was, in my estimation, excellent. It is all gone. I drank most of it myself. Though it lacked the fizz of JT's, that didn't matter to me. There are ways to get natural fizz into the drink. We will learn.

But JT's kombucha is almost too fizzy. I have hunch that all that fizz is not natural.

Well, whatever the case, I just want to make the point here that kombucha is an awesome, down-to-earth drink. 

I'm willing to bet that many readers of this blog are kombucha drinkers. If you are, please leave a comment below with your kombucha opinions and experiences. And if you have not yet tried kombucha, I recommend you start with a bottle of JT's Gingerade Kombucha. It's the best.