The first time I had heard of Kombucha was when my college roommate came home one day, a giant pickle jar in hand, and said that she was going to try her hand at making a batch in our tiny apartment. I watched over her shoulder as she brewed up a few bags of old black tea, scavenged from the backs of our parents pantries back home. I was intrigued, until she pulled out a small jar containing what could only be described at the time as something George Lucas would use to create life-like alien skin. The circular disk of solidified and stringy slime was the SCOBY, which I later found out to be an abbreviation for symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast. The kombucha comes from placing the SCOBY in a large batch of tea, usually a black tea, with the bacteria and yeast transforming the tea into a slightly alcoholic, tangy and fizzy drink about 10 days later. I was extremely skeptical to taste this fermented-slime-tea concoction, but, as to not offend my roomie, I gave it a try, and was extremely glad that I did. The drink was sweet, tangy and to my surprise, absolutely delicious.
Kombucha is up on trend and is quickly gaining more shelf space in the mainstream beverage industry. Kookoolan Farms, in Yamhill, Oregon, has the largest collection of mead in the world, boasting more than 150 different types of the honey-wine sourced from near and far. Their own kombucha recipe has remained unchanged since 2006. Kookoolan Original Kombucha pours a cloudy, bright and golden color. The sour bite from fermentation dominates the smell, but is immediately balanced out when taking that first sip. The hard tea is sweet, cool and refreshing with a fizz that that dances in the back of the throat. Not only does it taste good, but it does good things for you. Dairy-free and gluten-free, soy-free and vegan, the probiotics in the drink offer the body a tasty little detox.
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