What is Kombucha?

I had never heard of kombucha until about a year ago. Suddenly, everywhere I turned more people were talking about the health benefits of kombucha! What was this mysterious miracle drink? What does it do to your body? And what does it taste like?? It was time to do some foodie research!

Kombucha is fermented drink that is said to originate in China over 2000 years ago. It is made out of tea and sugar, from either fruit, honey or other types of sugar. It is high in probiotics aka healthy bacteria that lines your digestive tract and supports your immune system by fighting illness and infection. These probiotics are the key to the health benefits of kombucha.

In addition, kombucha has been shown to be high in antioxidants which can reduce inflammation in the body. The antioxidants not only come from the tea used to make kombucha, but they are also formed during the fermentation process. These antioxidants can also potentially help to fight cancer. Now that’s an incredible health benefit!

 

On the hunt for a delicious Kombucha

It was time to try out some different kombuchas! I tried several brands and lots of different flavors. Sadly, not all of them tasted good. When I was at my local grocery store, I stumbled across a brand called Buddha’s Brew. I picked up the Peach Mint flavor and took it home to try. OMG it tasted amazing! I loved the sweet peach flavor combined with a hint of mint. It was sweet yet tart, effervescent and super refreshing! I was hooked!

Buddha’s Brew

I had to find out more about Buddha’s Brew! They are a local company based out of Austin, Texas. Yay for local businesses! They started making kombucha about 10 years ago and selling it at a farmers market. They were so popular that they started making more and more kombucha, and eventually expanded to a larger building and hired on more people to help make their yummy flavors.

Buddha’s Brew is not only tasty from the organic tea and local ingredients used, but it also contains 19 billion live probiotic cultures! That is about 5 times more than other kombuchas on the market. They do this by never filtering the kombucha or over-carbonating it. Both of these things can reduce the probiotics level in the kombucha. A high probiotics content means more health benefits! Buddha’s Brew also doesn’t use any syrups or flavorings- its all natural and fresh ingredients.

My absolute favorite flavor is the Peach Mint kombucha! But I also love the Blueberry flavor and the Ginger flavor. But honestly, the Cranberry and the Tart Cherry Melon flavors are good too, they are just more tart.

Some Things to Consider

There are some common concerns about kombucha that I’d like to clarify. Firstly, most people think that kombucha is fermented so that means it contains alcohol. There is a trace amount of alcohol in kombucha, but Buddha’s Brew is always less than 0.5% which is the legal limit for non-alcoholic drinks. Another misconception is that kombucha has caffeine. Buddha’s Brew does contain trace amounts of caffeine. During the fermentation process, about 90% of the caffeine is metabolized by the probiotic cultures. The amount remaining is similar to decaf tea. Lastly, sugar content. To make kombucha, you do need sugar, however, a large portion of the sugar is fermented and turned into probiotics, acids and enzymes that are in the kombucha. For the residual sugars, they have been fermented so they have a lower glycemic index than added sugar. It’s always a good idea to check the labels of any kombuchas if you are concerned about the sugar content.

Since I love Buddha’s Brew kombucha so much, I have been buying it every week and love to relax at the end of the day by kicking my heels up on the couch and sipping on a bottle of kombucha. As I write this blog post, I am actually sipping on the Peach Mint flavor… delish!

I love the fact that I can nourish my body by drinking this local kombucha, as well as support a local business that is doing amazing work.

 

How else can you use kombucha?

Other than drinking kombucha straight, I wanted to come up with a fun, new way to drink kombucha. Enter, the kombucha float! Yes, I said it! Like a root beer float, a kombucha float is topped with a little ice cream. It’s the perfect, refreshing, healthy yet indulgent tasting drink on a hot summer day in Texas.

 

Kombucha Float

For this kombucha float, I used the Blueberry kombucha flavor. I wanted to give a nod to a Blueberry Pie so I made a vegan cinnamon ice cream and used that to top my kombucha float. Sprinkle on top some more blueberries and a dash of cinnamon. So good!

I was so amazed by how delicious this drink tasted that I actually got my husband to try it. And even he said it was delicious! That’s when I knew I was onto something!

I can’t wait to try making other kombucha float flavors!

Have you tried Buddha’s Brew before? If so, what is your favorite flavor? I also hope that you give this kombucha float a try! If you do take a photo and tag me on Instagram at @nourish_with_renata and on Facebook! I’d love to catch up you!

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post however all opinions in this post are purely my own and I truly love Buddha’s Brew kombucha!