Should We Drink Kombucha?

These days, many Americans are drinking kombucha, the famous fermented black or green tea. And some are brewing it themselves.

Like yogurt, kombucha is probiotic, having live beneficial bacteria and can be made at home. However, unlike yogurt, kombucha is made with black or green tea. sugar, and water. Kombucha is a live fermented tea with beneficial yeasts and bacteria. It can take 8-15 days to ferment kombucha at home, although it can be purchased in stores with live probiotic bacteria.

Kombucha has the same amount of alcohol as fruit juice. That is, less than one percent of the entire drink. The brewing term for a very low alcohol drink like kombucha is an elixir.

Why drink fermented black tea? After all, it's easier, faster, and cheaper to brew regular black or green tea.

Kombucha has a wide array of benefits far beyond regular black or green tea. In general, it helps digestion, detoxification, and assimilation of nutrients. That in turn improves health.

Many kombucha drinkers report having more energy, stamina, and greater resistance to colds and flus. Others have found that drinking Kombucha helps them sleep better, overcome depression, chronic fatigue, candidiasis, and other ailments.

The Germans and Russians have done a great deal of medical research on the benefits of drinking kombucha. For example, in one study, Russian researchers fed kombucha to infants hospitalized with dysentery. The babies were cured in one week.

It's too bad that medical research in our country has lagged far behind that of the Germans and Russians.

Wouldn't you like to find out what kombucha can do for you? Why don't you conduct your own experiment and find out?

Kombucha is one of the most remarkable and unusual teas in the world. Try it yourself to see the benefits of this wonderful tea.

Three FAQs of Kombucha Tea

If you have been looking around the folk medicine or organic weight loss communities for very long at all then you've almost certainly stumbled across kombucha tea at some point or another. This is a natural remedy that has been used in some form or another by the Chinese for over two thousand years, but it is only just beginning to catch on in the West.

However there have been some negative reports about kombucha tea, as well, and it's always important for anyone considering a natural remedy to know what they're getting into. If you've been unsuccessful in looking for answers, just read on.

Does kombucha really cure everything that the claims say it does? Obviously this depends on what individual claims you've been reading. Some of the most sensational claims, like helping to prevent cancer, are very hard (if not impossible) to prove. The short answer is that lab tests indicate there are a lot of potential health benefits from kombucha tea, but these tests have never been proven with human subjects.

Does kombucha tea help dieters lose weight? There are some tests that seem to indicate that kombucha can help speed up the metabolism and assist dieters in losing weight. However, there have not been any tests to see if this is in addition to the green tea mixed with kombucha, or if the benefits are just from the green tea.

Is kombucha dangerous? There has been a lot of debate on this. There have been a few reports of severe conditions, and even one or two of death that may have been caused in part by contaminated kombucha tea. In these reported cases, the tea was brewed by hand and most likely contaminated while brewing. No major reports have come from the kombucha that has already been brewed and bottled in energy drink form.

These are probably the three most common questions posed about the kombucha tea mixture, and I hope that this article has provided enough information so that you can make an informed decision about this folk health drink on whether or not it's right for you.

Chemical Content of Kombucha

Some chemical contents of Kombucha are:

1. Vitamin B1

Vitamin B1 takes part in carbohydrate metabolism for producing energy. It is suggested to fulfill the body’s need of vitamin B1, approximately 0.4 milligrams for each 1,000 calories. The insufficient of vitamin B1 can cause beri-beri disease.
It also takes part as coenzyme in energy-production reactions from carbohydrate and transforms energy for creating ATP.

2. Vitamin B2

Vitamin B2 is needed for processing amino acid, lipid, and carbohydrate to produce ATP. ATP also functions as anti-oxide.

3. Vitamin B3

Vitamin B3 is needed in metabolism process for producing energy. It also takes part in lipid metabolism, to decrease LDL level and to increase HDL level.

4. Vitamin B6

Insufficient of vitamin B6 can decrease immune system of the body.

5. Vitamin B12

Vitamin B12 and folat acid takes part in inter-cell metabolism. Insufficient of vitamin B12 can affect body growth.

6. Vitamin B15

Vitamin B15 comes from amino glycine acid. It takes part as oxygenator of body’s network and capturer of free radical particles.

7. Vitamin C

Vitamin C takes part in improving body endurance. The sufficient level of vitamin C for adult is 60 milligrams per day.

8. Folat acid

Folat acid is family of vitamin B. It functions to produce erythrocyte, recover injuries, and form muscles.

9. Glucoronic acid

Glucoronic acid functions to conjugate toxin and another metal.

10. Gluconic acid

Gluconic acid functions to preserve food in the body.

11. Etanoat acid

Etanoat acid is the biggest part of acid produced by fermentation process of Kombucha. Its main role is binding toxin.

12. Condroitin sulfate acid

Condroitin sulfate acid takes part to keep the healthiness of body joints.

13. Hyaluronic acid

Hyaluronic acid takes part as lubricant of body joints.

14. Lactate acid

15. Paracetamol

Paracetamol functions as analgesic.

16. Essential amino acid

Amino acid takes part to produce protein.

17. Enzyme

Enzyme helps the body metabolism.

18. Antibiotics

Antibiotics in Kombucha take part to limit the growth of another pathogen bacterium.

Make Your Own Kombucha

You can make your own Kombucha in a simple way. Try this:

Ingredients
1. Kombu “fungus”.
2. One (1) liter of mineral water.
3. 70 – 100 grams of sugar (10% of water volume).
4. Four (4) sachets of black tea/green tea.

Tools and Equipments
1. Stainless steel bowl
2. Jar
3. Cloth for covering the jar
4. Plastic or glass bottle
5. Funnel

How to Make Kombucha?
1. Boil one (1) liter of water until boiling.
2. After boiling, put four (4) sachets of black tea/green tea.
3. Wait for 15 minutes.
4. Separate the tea sachets from the water.
5. Put 70 – 100 gram of sugar and stir it.
6. Let the tea solvent until it reaches 20 – 25 °C.
7. Put the solvent into a jar made of glass. Don’t use any jar made of other metal.
8. Put the Kombu “fungus” into the jar.
9. Cover the jar with cloth, bundle it using rubber band. When covering the jar, be sure that the covering is tight enough and the air can flow normally into the jar.
10. The fermentation process occurs between 7 – 10 days (depends on the room temperature used to put the jar). The higher the temperature, the faster the process. The ideal room temperature should be on range between 23 – 27 °C. More better if the room is in the dark condition.
11. Don’t move and shake the jar.
12. After tea solvent has reached the right level of acid (pH 3 – 5.5), lift the Kombu “fungus”.
13. Pour the Kombu tea solvent into the glass bottle by using funnel without filtering it. After that, close the bottle tighly.
14. Let the Kombu tea (Kombucha) for five (5) days.
15. After five (5) days, store the Kombucha in refrigerator. Your Kombucha is ready to drink.

Kombucha, Tea of Immortality

Have you ever heard the word Kombucha? Kombucha, also called as “tea of Kombu”, is a fermented solution of tea, sugar, and Kombu “fungus”. Fermentation of Kombucha produces lactate acid that can help improving body’s metabolism.

The History of Kombucha

The word Kombucha comes from Kombu and Cha. Kombu is the name of Korean physician, and Cha means tea. In 414 BC, physician Kombu recovered Japanese emperor, Inkyo, from chronic indigestion. Kombu suggests the patient to consume tea water mixed with the “fungus”. After consuming Kombu’s ingredient, the emperor recovers from his disease. As appreciation for Kombu’s assistance, the emperor named Kombu’s ingredient as Kombucha.

Kombu “fungus” is not a fungus in the real meaning. It is a white gelatin sheet organism with thickness between 0.3 – 1.2 cm and covered with elastic membrane. The Kombu “fungus” is a colony of many bacteria’s yeast. One of them is Saccharomyces ludwigii, that symbiosis with Bacterium zylinum and other organism.

Another version of Kombucha is that it is guessed that Kombucha comes from China. It has been popular as healthy drink since 3,000 years ago. Since 212 BC, Chinese have believed that Kombucha can make immortal. Chinese called it as “tea of immortality”. From China, the spread of Kombucha follows the trade routes to all around the world.

The Benefit of Kombucha

There are many benefits when consumes Kombucha:

1. Kombucha as medicine of any chronic disease, for example rheumatoid arthritis, chronic fatigue syndromes, indigestion, insomnia, fertility, and many others.

2. Kombucha as antitoxin. Consuming Kombucha can neutralize toxin.

3. Kombucha as face cleaner. Because Kombucha can neutralize toxin, it also can be used as face cleaner.

4. Many other benefits.