About a month
ago, I found myself in Canton ,
Ohio
I washed these
down with a beverage that was new to me—kombucha. I didn’t know anything about it, but the
store had many different choices, so I took a representative sample of three,
and took them back to my hotel. Once
there I did my usual superficial research, and learned what it was I planned to
imbibe.
Kombucha is made
with sweetened black tea which has been lightly fermented in various symbiotic
bacteria and yeasts. Other types of tea
are sometimes used, but black tea appears to be the most common. This beverage began in China , and spread from there to Russia , and
then to the rest of the globe. But
otherwise many aspects of kombucha are controversial. Starting with its development—some historians
claim it’s an ancient beverage, thousands of years old, while others maintain
it’s only one or two hundred years old at the most. Then there’s the perceived health benefits. Some, especially those who advocate
traditional and alternative medicines, say kombucha boosts the immune system,
offers relief for PMS, joint pain, and arthritis, prevents or lessens the
affects of aging, prevents disease in general, or even treats or cures cancer
and AIDS. Science, meanwhile, disputes
these claims pretty much across the board, at least based on what studies have
been done so far. The American Cancer
Society, for example, contends that there is no evidence for kombucha as a
treatment or cure for any type of cancer.
It’s also pointed out that the drink can actually be hazardous, for
those with certain allergies or conditions (such as those undergoing hormone
replacement). Additionally, the bacteria
in it are evidently tricky to get right, sometimes leading to contamination,
especially during home brewing.
But, clearly
these disputes are bigger in scope for my little blog, so let’s get to my
impressions. As usual, I’ll go worst to
first for these carbonated libations.
First up is Millennium Products GT’s organic, raw kombucha, citrus
flavor. It listed various probiotics, B
vitamins, and antioxidants among its ingredients. It tasted very lemon-y, but decidedly too
strong. It was also kind of
astringent. Overall, pretty unpleasant—I
won’t be buying this one again.
Next was Live
Soda’s organic raw kombucha, Dr. Better flavor.
This one was yellow in color.
Again, rather disappointing. I
assumed from the name that it would have a “Dr. Pepper” type flavor to it, but
it didn’t at all. Instead it was
citrus-y. Better than the first one, but
not by much. Not good enough for a
revisit, anyway.
Finally, there
was Reed’s organic live cranberry ginger kombucha. Again, didn’t detect the advertised flavors
much. I perceived a little ginger tinge,
but not the cranberry (except for the reddish color). It was mostly citrus-y yet again. On the plus side, this was the best of the
bunch by far, and I might consider purchasing it again, every once in a while.
Just for the
record, I didn’t notice any health effects, good or bad. Obviously this was not a scientific, double
blind test of any sort, and it was an incredibly small sample size, etc., but
still, just to throw it out there. I
didn’t even notice any stomach/digestive discomfort. But whatever the real story is about
kombucha, healthwise, it certainly seems that you should know what you’re doing
before you try making it yourself. Also,
kombucha does have a small amount of alcohol in it, since it is fermented. This varies upon how long the drink is left
to ferment, but usually ranges between .5 to 3%. My store-bought ones were .5%, meaning a
person my size (or really, pretty much any adult) would probably burst their
bladder before they even got so much as a buzz.
Finally, I’m
intrigued by the “probiotic” listing on kombucha’s ingredients. I’m tempted to buy another, and drop in an
antibiotic pill, and see what happens.
Who would win this Biotic Battle?
And would the resulting clash cause a fountain to erupt out of the
bottle, like Mentos in Diet Coke? I’d
like to think so.
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