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Anyone out there drinking kombucha? Seems like it could be of benefit to anyone - rich in enzymes, probiotics, antioxidents & EGCG. For those unfamiliar, kombucha is a fermented tea beverage. It is definitely an acquired taste - something like carbonated apple cider vineager. It's also pretty pricey here in the USA, close to $4.00 a 16 oz bottle.

kombucha is supposedly easy to make once you have the "mother"/starter.

I can't get past all the sugar and black tea used in the process--and the whole eliminate sugar/candida . It's so hard to tell what to do and you can go in circles!

Hello all,

Not all the Kombucha drinks are made with black tea, and because it is a fermented drink the sugar is minimal, the one I like best is GT's Organic raw 'gingerade', it only has 2g sugar/8 oz and the drink is 16oz, so if you are sensitive to sugar like I am, 4g/16oz is not very much, not when you consider all the positive effects on the gut, probiotic etc. Really good stuff. Check out Donna Gates 'Body Ecology Diet' website, I think she sells a probiotic drink, but I have not tried it.

I buy it when I'm out and get really thirsty, sometimes I can find it for $2.50, but it's usually $2.99.

I thought about making it too, but it is a high risk for unwanted bacteria from your home environment unless you know exactly how to handle the 'mother'.

z

Hi,
I love kombucha and the way it makes my body feel- calm, centered, and happy. I'm about to start drinking it regularly and see what it does for my MS. If anyone is interested, reply to this after a week or so (when my batch is finished brewing) or maybe in a month and I can let you know how it goes.
Deena

Deena wrote:Hi,
I love kombucha and the way it makes my body feel- calm, centered, and happy. I'm about to start drinking it regularly and see what it does for my MS. If anyone is interested, reply to this after a week or so (when my batch is finished brewing) or maybe in a month and I can let you know how it goes.
Deena

How are u doing on the Kombucha drink? I've heard some good things about it.

zinamaria wrote: I thought about making it too, but it is a high risk for unwanted bacteria from your home environment unless you know exactly how to handle the 'mother'.

z

I've brewed/drunk kombucha off and on for about 5 years now. The risk of "unwanted bacteria" is not so high due to the acidic environment and the fact that the kombucha culture is active in the brew. It is quite easy to brew, and commercial brands don't come anywhere near homemade. Contamination is easy to spot (usually trichoderma mold, and that's usually during the first ferment on a new mother, if the pH is too high)

I'm currently brewing kefir, kombucha, and lacto-fermenting vegetables (in salt brine, and whey for a low-sodiuim alternative). Fermenting is ancient (it is after all, how humans preserved stuff before refrigeration), and while there are some improvements (airlocks for vegetablefermenting like sauerkraut, and alcohol fermenting), the process itself is quite easy. I highly reccommend "Wild Fermentation by Ellix Sandor Katz, though I'm a wee bit leery of all the handling/open-air he recommends.

If anyone would like a dried mother with directions to starting, PM me. The mothers replicate every batch, so I've got plenty

Just wanted to chime in that we have started brewing our own kombucha, we got tired of paying over $3.00 a bottle for something you can make for pennies. It's very easy to make once you get a SCOBY, which are readily available in the internet. All you need is a gallon jar, some smaller jars or bottles, a scoby, black or green tea and some sugar. Don't let the sugar scare you off - by the time the brew is ready, the sugar is no longer present, it's been converted to beneficial probiotics by the culture. The whole brewing process takes about 3 weeks. There are lots of youtube vieos on how to make it.