KOMBUCHA: trendy overpriced miracle beverage for 2008 - on shelves at a health food store near you

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pomegrante juice? so 2003.

acai? goji berry? last season.

i'm hooked on this shit.

http://www.diamondorganics.com/images/165_kombucha.jpg

http://www.thenibble.com/zine/draft1/images/KombuchaWonderDrink-300.jpg

gr8080, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 08:49 (seventeen years ago) link

i've been on a yerba mate kick but i'm probably way behind the curve on that

get bent, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 08:50 (seventeen years ago) link

oh yeah i was going to call that shit out too.

gr8080, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 08:51 (seventeen years ago) link

also jody i knew you'd be the first to reply to this :)

gr8080, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 08:52 (seventeen years ago) link

Is "raw" the usual adjective for pure juices? - the only liquid I'd use "raw" with is sewage :-/

StanM, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 09:03 (seventeen years ago) link

when somethin grows in MY tea, i toss it.

haven't they been trying to pimp this shit for at least the last decade?

GOTT PUNCH II HAWKWINDZ, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 09:07 (seventeen years ago) link

i drink raw milk (still legal in california, for now)

get bent, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 09:08 (seventeen years ago) link

its not a juice, its a fermented tea that has carbonation-like bubbles.

most brands add a little fruit juice for flavor.

gr8080, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 09:08 (seventeen years ago) link

my roommate tried to brew this in a kitchen cabinet, but didn't cover the jar. soon enough there were flies everywhere.

the store-bought kind is sorta good.

one time, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 09:10 (seventeen years ago) link

The lemon and ginger flavours are very very good mixers for Gin. I love the stuff, the raw organic brand being my favourite. Harder to get in the UK though, my local healthfood store only has peach flavour which is not great.

Ed, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 09:13 (seventeen years ago) link

I had a sip once and thought, well, maybe. But I'm not entirely sure I'd be able to handle a whole bottle.

Casuistry, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 09:13 (seventeen years ago) link

i'd love to try and brew at home because the store brand shit is hella pricey, but it sounds pretty hard tto get it right and fizzy.

also ed OTM thats my favorite brand and flavors.

gr8080, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 09:15 (seventeen years ago) link

http://shop.deliciousorganics.com/images/products/synergykombuchagrp.jpg

gr8080, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 09:17 (seventeen years ago) link

i really like the plain one a lot too.

gr8080, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 09:18 (seventeen years ago) link

what the hell is this all about"

http://pics.drugstore.com/prodimg/91473/200.jpg

?

gr8080, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 09:20 (seventeen years ago) link

i was just talking with someone like an hour ago about kombucha. basically, fizz = classic, smell = dud.

Cosmo Vitelli, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 09:51 (seventeen years ago) link

this stuff has been around for at least a decade.

darraghmac, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 09:58 (seventeen years ago) link

thousands of years even, but i have only just become aware of it therefore it is new and exciting.

Ed, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 10:03 (seventeen years ago) link

Sadly, I have only heard of this before because of System Of A Down:

The kombucha mushroom people,
Sitting around all day, Who can believe you,
Who can believe you, Let your mother pray

call all destroyer, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 12:40 (seventeen years ago) link

the lovely emma b made some in the boiler room - it tasted like regular iced tea tbh

Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 13:06 (seventeen years ago) link

LOOZA. I drink it.

nickalicious, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 15:43 (seventeen years ago) link

i am drinking some right now, yes yes.

elmo argonaut, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 15:49 (seventeen years ago) link

LOOZA is gr8

sleep, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 15:50 (seventeen years ago) link

one bottle of looza carefully used could last a family a lifetime

Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 15:52 (seventeen years ago) link

I'm beginning to think I'm wasting my money on all this blueberry/pom/acai stuff because it's all pasteurized which I suspect renders it sugar-water. (by killing all the benficial enzymes and phytonutrients and stuff)

wanko ergo sum, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 16:04 (seventeen years ago) link

http://dev.wilkinsonspharmacy.co.nz/gogoImageManager/feed/DATA=60/p_berocca2.jpg

Ronan, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 16:05 (seventeen years ago) link

what is kombucha supposed to do again?

ian's roomates have a culture growing in the kitchen, it looks neat.

bell_labs, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 16:06 (seventeen years ago) link

i read a description of its taste at one point--that it was like an alcoholic peeing in your mouth. this of course might have been a vast exaggeration, but i don't quite know if i want to find out.

JuliaA, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 16:11 (seventeen years ago) link

it's got billions of little swimmy living things in it! i had yogurt and a kombucha this morning so my digestive tract must be as teeming as a cambrian tidepool.

elmo argonaut, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 16:12 (seventeen years ago) link

(though i suppose all them little micro-orgs are more floaty than swimmy)

elmo argonaut, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 16:13 (seventeen years ago) link

so basically it is like super blue-green algae supplement craze redux

elmo argonaut, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 16:21 (seventeen years ago) link

MULTI GREEN KOMBUCHA

69, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 16:21 (seventeen years ago) link

to those trying this for the first time: DO NOT SMELL PRIOR TO TASTING.

i think it's ok

John Justen, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 16:41 (seventeen years ago) link

I resent paying actual money for beverages that don't contain alcohol.

chap, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 16:42 (seventeen years ago) link

it has trace amounts of alcohol. i checked. proof less than satisfactory.

John Justen, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 16:45 (seventeen years ago) link

the gingerade is the best!

daria-g, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 16:56 (seventeen years ago) link

I had some of this on 69's recommendation. It was OK. Might do again.

quincie, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 18:42 (seventeen years ago) link

my boss put one of these in the freezer at work and then forgot it. what an explosion of gross.

she also calls them 'snoochie boochies', probably just to annoy me.

jergïns, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 18:57 (seventeen years ago) link

hah the trend has been in full swing here for at least a year, but i still only drink them like once every 3 or 4 months.

tehresa, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 18:58 (seventeen years ago) link

kombucha is pretty gnarly IMHO. my roommates do it homebrew stylee.

ian, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 19:01 (seventeen years ago) link

i think if one regularly drinks emergen-c, he/she will be less offended by the taste of kombucha (not that emergen-c tastes bad, but you are used to the fizzy i am drinking something random and weird thing).

tehresa, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 19:09 (seventeen years ago) link

kombucha after yoga class >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> kombucha any other time

gr8080, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 19:16 (seventeen years ago) link

lol juice bar amirite

gff, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 19:17 (seventeen years ago) link

"kombucha wonder drink" <--- pussy shit

Catsupppppppppppppp dude 茄蕃, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 19:20 (seventeen years ago) link

oxygen bars lol

sanskrit, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 19:47 (seventeen years ago) link

lol inversion boots / rofl macrobiotic diet

elmo argonaut, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 19:49 (seventeen years ago) link

So it's actually good shit? I picked up the ginger flavor on the recommendation of a salesperson, and never drank it...Is the ginger good?

kate78, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 21:16 (seventeen years ago) link

And so, the desperate neverending search for a new taste sensation(!) continues.

Aimless, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 21:19 (seventeen years ago) link

"kombucha wonder drink" <--- pussy shit

-- Catsupppppppppppppp dude 茄蕃, Wednesday, January 23, 2008 9:20 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Link

otm. that shit is too sugary and not vinegarey enough.

the ginger one is awesome, but i'd recommend one of the fruity ones as an introduction.

also sorry for starting this thread when there already was one on noize that actually got bumped yesterday.

gr8080, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 21:32 (seventeen years ago) link

I am thinking "surreptitiously, in public" might be a good new way for me to drink it.

Abbott, Friday, 25 January 2008 01:39 (seventeen years ago) link

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y136/txmed/Slurm.jpg

El Tomboto, Friday, 25 January 2008 01:40 (seventeen years ago) link

it's the opposite of a drink mixer

probiotics are detoxifiers, good for liver and kidneys. there's also a subtle yet real rush on ingestion, a little head-singing snap. I find myself able to skip coffee sometimes after a small cup. also, because it's a cleanser the effects are cumulative. good stuff to balance yourself out with after taking antibiotics.

brewing your own = x 5 times the effect of retail bottles as you'd expect, they got the taste right but the rush is tempered.

Milton Parker, Friday, 25 January 2008 01:59 (seventeen years ago) link

ahhhhh, Durham talk is makin' me crazy-homesick. if I told someone in Chapel Hill I didn't know where to get kombucha they'd probably do a spit-take right in my face. and then, because they would probably be drinking kombucha at the time, I guess I could just lick my face off and satisfy my curiosity.

bernard snowy, Friday, 25 January 2008 03:14 (seventeen years ago) link

My sophomore year, I had this awesome hippie student teacher (with dreads!). She brewed a batch of kombucha for me and put it in a pickle jar. Though its aftertaste reminded me of vinegar, i still liked it...then i got to that white organism.

Tape Store, Friday, 25 January 2008 03:27 (seventeen years ago) link

i read a description of its taste at one point--that it was like an alcoholic peeing in your mouth

actually, i imagine it tastes a bit like this, yes

Tape Store, Friday, 25 January 2008 03:30 (seventeen years ago) link

i had my first kombucha in chapel hill at the co-op! but anyway now im back in DC where kombucha is plentiful

69, Friday, 25 January 2008 03:32 (seventeen years ago) link

i've been on a yerba mate kick but i'm probably way behind the curve on that

it makes me wired but the 2-hours-sleep frayed nerve type of wired, not for me.
funk a kombucha, a beverage has not truly arrived until it has its own pyramid scheme:
http://www.waccobb.net/forums/waccobb/Images%20for%20Members/xango_juice.jpg

tremendoid, Friday, 25 January 2008 03:55 (seventeen years ago) link

a distant uncle is convinced he went into remission last year because of this stuff and basically made his house a shrine to xango. I don't want to just poopoo that, god bless whatever did it for him, but $25.00 + a bottle?????

tremendoid, Friday, 25 January 2008 04:01 (seventeen years ago) link

http://www.nonihealthnut.com/images/noni_multi01.jpg
finance!

wanko ergo sum, Friday, 25 January 2008 04:03 (seventeen years ago) link

http://www.kombucha.org/banan4.gif

removes rust!

Abbott, Friday, 25 January 2008 04:31 (seventeen years ago) link

Unexplained Severe Illness Possibly Associated with Consumption of Kombucha Tea -- Iowa, 1995, from the CDC:

http://www.cdc.gov/MMWR/preview/mmwrhtml/00039742.htm

Abbott, Friday, 25 January 2008 04:34 (seventeen years ago) link

holy shit crazy christian former co-worker wont stop bombarding me with xango emails.

gr8080, Friday, 25 January 2008 04:51 (seventeen years ago) link

I think for the Xango price, the equivalent-priced bottle of scotch would do my spirits better.

Abbott, Friday, 25 January 2008 04:55 (seventeen years ago) link

nine months pass...

the gt's gingerade flavor is awes. yea this shit is overpriced, but i think i could afford like one of these per week.

the birdman from the hilarious "alcatraz" prison (get bent), Wednesday, 19 November 2008 03:04 (sixteen years ago) link

didnt read the thread, but you couldnt pay me to drink this fucken fagsauce

ಥ﹏ಥ (cankles), Wednesday, 19 November 2008 03:49 (sixteen years ago) link

i used to brew this stuff at home in the mid-90s in a bucket. tasted ok but i don't think it was the health revelation i was hoping for.

behind the times (gem), Wednesday, 19 November 2008 11:48 (sixteen years ago) link

Nastiest beverage I've ever tasted. That jellyfish shit in the bottom made my skin crawl.

Chunk o' Funk (Bimble Is Still More Goth Than You), Wednesday, 19 November 2008 21:49 (sixteen years ago) link

i like this but oh say can you see the creeping influence of the RAW FOODS LOBBY on our overpriced organic supermarket culture??? oh noes!!!

the magic length of god (elmo argonaut), Wednesday, 19 November 2008 22:01 (sixteen years ago) link

i mean, i will totally drink this but mostly for taste reasons -- i like tangy, acidic, slightly fermented stuff

obviouslt the health benefits of the commercially available stuff is way overstate, but i don't really drink it for those reasons. e.g. i do not put brewers yeast into an goji-berry & algae smoothie/enema

the magic length of god (elmo argonaut), Wednesday, 19 November 2008 22:06 (sixteen years ago) link

plain yogurt's active cultures are much better for you.
― Steve Shasta, Tuesday, April 10, 2007 2:16 PM (1 year ago)

(*゚ー゚)θ L(。・_・)   °~ヾ(・ε・ *) (Steve Shasta), Wednesday, 19 November 2008 22:32 (sixteen years ago) link

for people who have made kombucha: can you get it to be very carbonated?

artdamages, Wednesday, 19 November 2008 22:38 (sixteen years ago) link

four years pass...

That's my new favourite brand.

I've also discovered that kombucha can be useful at the end of a booze binge. Its mildly alcoholic nature (+ the sugar) tricks your body into thinking you're still drinking beers. But, the helpful microorganisms actually start helping out your gut!

fields of salmon, Thursday, 20 June 2013 20:06 (eleven years ago) link

kombucha and raw coconut water are going to put me in the poorhouse

Treeship, Thursday, 20 June 2013 20:08 (eleven years ago) link

two years pass...

I didn't know i was sick but drinking this every day has cured me

Spooky H (Treeship), Tuesday, 27 October 2015 21:45 (nine years ago) link

The ginger one

Spooky H (Treeship), Tuesday, 27 October 2015 21:46 (nine years ago) link

It's great for a hangover. Your body sort of thinks it's more booze.

fields of salmon, Wednesday, 28 October 2015 09:42 (nine years ago) link

I was into it but then I got food poisoning on the same day I drank some at lunch & now I can't touch it it makes me gag :/

Flamenco Drop (VegemiteGrrl), Wednesday, 28 October 2015 20:20 (nine years ago) link

yeah so good as a hangover cure, totally works imo

the tune was space, Wednesday, 28 October 2015 20:29 (nine years ago) link

haha totally, i partied w/ my siblings pretty late and was feeling pretty rough the next day, i went out to my brother's farm where they brew jugs of homemade kombucha and water kefir and i drank a mix of the two all day and it helped a ton. i love that sour acidic effervescence, so tasty

a little weed helped the hangover too tbh

marcos, Wednesday, 28 October 2015 20:45 (nine years ago) link

roommate used to brew this: very mother brain. does make you feel clean.

playlists of pensive swift (difficult listening hour), Wednesday, 28 October 2015 20:49 (nine years ago) link

my friends who don't drink alcohol consume vast quantities of kombuch & ginger beer.

expertly crafted referential display name (Jordan), Wednesday, 28 October 2015 20:50 (nine years ago) link

i think my brother might be brewing kombucha and water kefir too, but that's just because his house is disgusting

goole, Wednesday, 28 October 2015 20:51 (nine years ago) link

lol

marcos, Wednesday, 28 October 2015 20:53 (nine years ago) link

my brother-in-law saw the jugs and said to me later "they gotta put that shit away when they have guests over, shit's digusting"

marcos, Wednesday, 28 October 2015 20:54 (nine years ago) link

jar w/ the mother in it, it is pretty intense. looks like an organ floating in formaldehyde

marcos, Wednesday, 28 October 2015 20:54 (nine years ago) link

i am drinking the synergy ginger one but with chia seeds in it. very fucked up. it's the same dumb part of my brain that makes me try bad-but-conceptually-interesting-sounding hummus variations, sometimes, while the one i should get (regular hummus / chia-free ginger synergy) is right in front of me, i guess thinking i will never make progress in life if i do not throw myself selflessly into the raw heat of innovation. very texturally distracting slurping seeds though.

crime breeze (schlump), Saturday, 31 October 2015 08:34 (nine years ago) link

Oh yea the seeds are weird. I don't really like when it's a weird color either. It's Gingerade or Original for me when it comes to GT products

Treeship, Saturday, 31 October 2015 15:04 (nine years ago) link

I feel kind of stupid for throwing out an almost year-old bottle that was at the back of my fridge. I mean, what more could possibly happen to it?

You guys are caterpillar (Telephone thing), Saturday, 31 October 2015 16:13 (nine years ago) link

nine years pass...

i am cultivating my scoby and am on my second batch of buch. the first one is fermenting so i will see how that goes before i start to experiment with flavoring. cannot wait to try my first batch!!

Piggy Lepton (La Lechera), Monday, 3 February 2025 21:30 (one week ago) link

i liked using up pineapple cores and other texturally unfavorable parts of fruit -- what do you have queued up for flavoring candidates?

Philip Nunez, Wednesday, 5 February 2025 01:49 (one week ago) link

Im thinking on it but no plans yet beyond ginger. I’d welcome ideas & tips!

Piggy Lepton (La Lechera), Wednesday, 5 February 2025 13:06 (one week ago) link

More of an anti-tip, but I found that ignoring common wisdom (like "Don't reuse the scobys from flavored kombuchas" or "Don't use corn-syrup sweetened tea as a substrate") didn't result in the catastrophes I thought they might.

Not that 'leftover sweet tea from popeyes' Kombucha ended up tasting great...

But in line with reusing scobys, you can cultivate a mother from the dregs of a retail kombucha like GT's, if you're ever in a situation where you have to start from scratch and there are no donors around.

Philip Nunez, Thursday, 6 February 2025 00:01 (one week ago) link

Oh that’s where I’m at — my scoby has cultivated for 3 weeks and now I’m on fermentation phase for the first batch.

Piggy Lepton (La Lechera), Thursday, 6 February 2025 00:04 (one week ago) link

I will never understand why the store-bought kombucha drinks are invariably sweetened with stevia etc. Would have thought that the market attracted by the qualities of kombucha would be put off by sweeteners. Shows what I know, I guess.

assert (matttkkkk), Thursday, 6 February 2025 01:01 (one week ago) link

what's the deal with boozy kombucha? I'm assuming the alcohol would kill off any healthy probiotic bacteria, am I wrong on this?

Andy the Grasshopper, Thursday, 6 February 2025 01:09 (one week ago) link

Alcohol cleanses you from the inside

Piggy Lepton (La Lechera), Thursday, 6 February 2025 01:48 (one week ago) link

(Im joking — i have no idea about malt bev buch. I tried it once and would have rather had a beer and a buch separately.

Piggy Lepton (La Lechera), Thursday, 6 February 2025 01:49 (one week ago) link

kombucha pretty easily turns into a beverage with alcohol if you mess it up

ɥɯ ︵ (°□°) (mh), Thursday, 6 February 2025 02:30 (one week ago) link


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