Why Kombucha should be your drink of choice this summer

Do you remember your first impression of kombucha? Have you ever tried it?

If you are not familiar with this popular fermented tea, allow me to introduce you to this fizzy drink with its many health benefits.

Kombucha has been consumed for thousands of years and is a fermented probiotic drink that originated from China but oftentimes is credited to be originated from Russia.

It is made from tea, sugar, a scoby and a starter from a previous batch – you will need a starter kit to start brewing kombucha. A scoby is an acronym for symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast. In short, it’s beneficial bacteria and yeasts that work synergistically together to produce a certain type of ferment.

Scoby

The tea is brewed over a course of 7-31 days and the final product is naturally carbonated, making this a fizzy and tasty drink.

A few weeks ago I attend a kombucha tasting at Haas Collective in Cape Town, where brew-mistress Meghan Werner of Theonista took a selected group of foodies on a taste adventure. The idea behind the tasting event was to give guests the opportunity to explore the different brews and flavours offered by Theonista and to develop a sense of how to identify high quality kombucha and differentiate various flavour characteristics.

The flavours were divided into 5 tasting groups namely; Spicy, Fruity, Botanical, Functional and Purist. These groupings consisted of the products in the Theonista range, namely:

  • Ginger Rooibos,
  • Ginger Mate,
  • Pomegranate & Green Tea,
  • Pomegranate & Rooibos,
  • Lemongrass Orange,
  • Equinox,
  • Buchu Delight,
  • Turmeric Ginger Cayenne,
  • Activated Charcoal & Lemon,
  • Koffee & Rooibos,
  • Simply Green,
  • Yerba Mate

Theonista sources their rooibos tea from the Highveld Co-operative, who support responsible social and environmental farming practices. Their organic green tea is sourced from a high mountainous area in Thailand where very special, particularly mature plants are hand harvested. Their seasonal botanicals are almost always sourced from the Cape Point area , and are wild and indigenous or cultivated, organic herbs and plants.

For me, it’s hard to compare the taste of kombucha to anything else. If you like the taste of vinegar, you will like it from day one. I’m a fan of apple cider vinegar, so I loved the drink at first sip.

Bottom line? If you’re convinced about the health perks and don’t mind the sour, vinegary taste, then Theonista’s tasty range of kombucha should be your choice of drink this summer.

Theonista is available from various health shops and online.