Kombucha tea hits the big time with an article in the NYTimes. A health tea brewed for thousands of years in China and Russia and then drank in the US by a fringe population of health nuts is soon to be delivered to you by Red Bull and other multi-nationals. If you’re already a fan of kombucha and drink GT’s, don’t worry, it’s still the industry leader.
Is this new-found popularity good news? Hard to tell. On the up side, this will undoubtably encourage more people to try kombucha tea. If they’re like me, it isn’t always love at first sip. My husband Neil says, “it’s an acquired taste” when he hears some say ‘YUK’. I’m sure the mail order sites that sell SCOBY’s and brewing equipment will surge. More YouTube video’s of course, and I suspect a plethora of postings on Facebook, Twitter and Craig’s List for kombucha brewing classes. What the hell, I might hang a shingle out there myself.
On the down side, likely there will be people who will get sick from over consumption or bad home brews. There is definitely a detox effect and some precautions to be observed when home brewing. (see post On the Edge) Perhaps we’ll see product recalls. Will kombucha need to be pasteurized?
In the end, I hope there will be some real research into its benefits and possible dangers.
Here’s my last speculation: coming to a store near you we’ll soon hear, “I’ll have a tall vanilla caramel mango kombucha, iced, with whip.” Well, maybe not the vanilla caramel or the whip, but it sounded fun. Did you guess what I’m thinking?
