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Introduction
Hello and welcome to our short, beginners guide on all aspects of Kombucha, a fermented tea also known as “the tea of immortality”.
If you go into any health food store and even many other stores that sell drinks, you will find kombucha, often in a huge variety of brands and flavors. Although it’s been around for thousands of years, it’s only been in recent years that it’s gained popularity in the United States and is being hailed as a healthy drink that has a number of benefits, which we will cover in this guide. Firstly let’s start at the beginning…
What is Kombucha?
Kombucha is a fermented tea drink. It is naturally effervescent much like carbonated beverages, and contains tea, water, sugar, healthy bacteria, and yeast. The healthy bacteria and yeast are what work together to ferment this beverage which gives kombucha its many health benefits.
Now, here are a few of the reasons as to why kombucha is such a popular drink:
Easy to Make
We’ll go into more details later, but the basic brewing of kombucha involves making tea with sugar, then adding something known as SCOBY which contains the bacteria and yeast and allowing it to set for a certain number of days to ferment. Because it’s so easy to make, many people prefer making their own kombucha to buying it in stores.
Variety of Flavors
Because you can start with nearly any type of tea and add additional flavors after the brewing process, it means that the possibilities are endless when it comes to the flavors that kombucha can have. You can also find kombucha in the store in many different flavors, so there’s always something different that you can try and tantalize your taste buds.
Good Soft Drink Alternative
For people that love the carbonation of sugary soft drinks, kombucha makes an excellent alternative. It’s not only got the fizziness that makes soft drinks stand out, but it’s also much lower in sugar without lacking in flavor. The fact that there is a healthy alternative to soft drinks is great news for people who want to kick that addiction without losing out on enjoying a delicious beverage.
Low in Caffeine
While some people may need some caffeine in their tea to get a little boost to make it through the day, others prefer lower caffeine because of the way it affects them such as keeping them from being able to fall asleep at night. Because of the fermentation process, kombucha allows you to get many of the great benefits of tea without the addition of caffeine.
Relaxing
One of the natural by-products of the fermentation process is alcohol. The amount increases with the amount of time the kombucha is allowed to ferment, so this is strictly controlled in a commercial setting and can be experimented with in a home setting. However, because of this low alcohol content, kombucha will help anyone who drinks it to relax.
Healthy
Easily the biggest reason that kombucha has gained popularity is because of its many health benefits. It has a number of probiotics
which can help with digestive issues, antioxidants which can help remove toxins from your body, and B vitamins which help in a number of ways within your body. It’s also low in sugar, calories, and sodium, making it great for people who are trying to lose weight.
Well that’s a basic overview of what Kombucha is and why it’s gaining notoriety as a miracle elixir for overall health In the next part we’re going to take a look at the history of Kombucha and how it’s evolved over time Let’s dive in…
Chapter 1 – History Of Kombucha Tea
Nobody knows for sure how far back kombucha goes, and the truth has been so mixed with legends over the years that it’s hard to separate them now. But, we’re going to do our best to present you with the history of kombucha tea and how it came all the way from an ancient Chinese medicinal drink to a modern-day health beverage around the world.
First Mention
The first recorded mention of kombucha goes back to 220 BC during the Qin Dynasty in China. It was said to have been used as a drink of immortality for Emperor Qinshi Huangdi. This is likely where it gets the “cha” part of its name as the Chinese word for tea is “cha.” The Chinese had many other names for this drink as well such as “stomach treasure,” “sea mushroom,” and “tea mold.”
Dr. Kombu
Supposedly, in the year 414 AD, a Korean doctor by the name of Dr. Kombu brought the drink to Emperor Inyoko of Japan, and this is where the drink gets its name. However, there isn’t enough evidence to back up this story, so it could be the stuff of legends. Another story is that Ghengis Khan carried kombucha with him as he traveled.
Russia and Beyond
From Asia, kombucha found its way to Russia as well as Europe, where it not only gained in popularity until the 19th century, but also gained a few more names, such as in Russia where it is referred to as “tea mushroom.” According to one account, this beverage saved the life of Alexsander Solzhenitsyn, a Nobel Prize winner, while he was in exile in Siberia.
World War II
Kombucha continued to be popular throughout Europe and Russia until the beginning of World War II. This was because both tea and sugar were rationed and it was too hard for the average citizen to get their hands on enough of them to regularly make the drink. After the war, however, it began to grow again in popularity, and saw a surge in the 1960’s when Swiss researchers proved its health benefits.
Chernobyl
In the 1980’s, there was a horrific accident near Chernobyl in Russia where a nuclear plant melted down, exposing hundreds of people nearby to radiation. There was a group of people made up primarily of elderly women, however, that survived and did better than the others. It was found by the scientists and doctors that these people regularly drank kombucha.
Modern Popularity
Since the year 2000, kombucha has become a popular health drink throughout the Western world, with people all over Europe, the United States, and Australia enjoying its numerous health benefits. Unfortunately, as many hail this drink as a miracle cure for a number of ailments, others claim it to be dangerous. Because it is created through a natural process and cannot be patented, big companies have little interest in it, which is why there have been few studies done on kombucha to provide completely conclusive evidence one way or the other.
Now that we’ve uncovered what Kombucha is and the history of this tea, the next thing to do is explain how it’s made…more specifically the SCOBY (Mother), which is what we will cover in the next part.
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