What's for Dinner?

[sad_winslow]

Originally Posted by Clodfobble

Kombucha is fermented, and tastes like it. If you enjoy things like kimchi, real sauerkraut, etc., then you will probably also enjoy the tang of kombucha. Most people I know drink it because it's good for them, not because they genuinely like the flavor.

I think that it's probably sad to drink it if you don't like the flavor because it's not really that great for you in particular, although it's pretty likely not bad for you. Any magical health benefits ascribed to it are pretty much either outrageously overblown or outright false, so if you don't like the "unique" taste it seems silly to drink it. The "probiotic" nature of the unpasteurized stuff is maybe equivalent to that of yogurt, and how beneficial that is exactly is still kind of up in the air, even. Yogurt is good for you not necessarily because of the microorganisms directly, but rather what they've done to the milk sugars they're fed, not to mention the resulting dietary and lifestyle changes in people who decide it's time to eat more yogurt. Kombucha has also got some B vitamin content, which you can get from pretty much anything in a balanced diet, and any excess above what your body can use at the moment is just excreted in urine.

Otherwise, what you're pretty much doing is drinking sweet tea that's had the sugar converted to vinegar and fizz.

I like the taste, myself, though. Vinegary and acidic, a little fizz, earthy funk, I can dig it. I'm a sucker for fermented things in general, though, and I really like sour beers. Kombucha, I've found, is sort of like the non-alcoholic (mostly, there's still a fraction of a %) hippy version of a lambic.