When YouTuber Brittany Brosky posted a video of herself tasting kombucha for the primary time on TikTok, the publish turned a viral sensation; it generated over 15 million views and catapulted Brosky into web stardom. Although Brosky’s response to the drink was ambivalent at finest, kombucha—or, “elixir of immortality”, as the traditional drink born in China greater than 2000 years in the past has lengthy been referred to as—has turn into almost ubiquitous in the previous couple of years and is obtainable all over the place from Erewhon to bro-y sports activities bars. With followers that embrace Gwyneth Paltrow, Madonna, Kourtney Kardashian, Halle Berry, Reese Witherspoon, the Olsen sisters, and extra, kombucha can be sort of a way of life—a cult of kombucha, if you’ll.
However what are the well being advantages of kombucha? And, what precisely is that this fizzy, fermented drink anyway and why is it so crazy-popular? Learn on to search out out.
What’s kombucha?
Like yogurt, kefir, sauerkraut, and kimchi, kombucha is a fermented meals that may assist rebalance the intestinal flora. Some additionally swear that it cures zits, improves temper, and even reverses the looks of grey hair. However what’s it precisely?
Kombucha is a barely fizzy, sweetened drink wealthy in reside microorganisms and polyphenols. It’s made by fermenting inexperienced, black, or white tea with a particular symbiotic tradition of micro organism and yeasts often known as a Scoby or “mom”, which is analogous in principal to the starter that’s used to breed for sourdough bread. Kombucha was historically ready within the house and has been widespread for hundreds of years within the East—particularly in China and Japan the place it’s thought-about a “tea for a protracted life”; it might have even been utilized by samurai in battle. It’s additionally in style in Russia, and on the finish of the Nineteen Nineties it made its grand look in the US the place it was marketed as a bottled well being drink. It’s not too long ago turn into extra extensively out there in Europe, particularly in natural retailers and specialised supermarkets, which is sweet information when you’re a kombucha devotee and a frequent traveler.
Kombucha has a powerful, acidic however candy taste—which not everybody likes!—with a style that’s typically described as a combination between champagne and vinegar. (It’s not for nothing that Brosky’s expressive video went viral.)
The well being advantages of kombucha
Kombucha is taken into account useful—or able to bettering well being and well-being, sort of like adaptogenic mushrooms and sure herbs. Conventional (and present) shoppers declare that it might alleviate situations starting from baldness to diabetes to kidney stones to hypertension to liver illness to most cancers.
