10/19/2023 0 Comments Synergy raw kombucha reddit![]() Was this my family’s version of an intervention?Ī few days later, after I had recovered, I decided to do my own research into the risks of home-brewing. “When brewing kombucha, it’s easy to not only grow good bacteria, but bad bacteria too.” The next day she sent me an email with the subject line “kombucha and your health.” According to the FDA and the CDC, home-brewed kombucha can cause lead poisoning, fungal infections, and (in one reported case) even death. That night, I texted my mom to tell her I thought my kombucha had made me sick, as I hadn’t consumed anything else questionable in the last 24 hours. I took an urgent Lyft ride home and spent the rest of the day running between the bed and the bathroom, clutching my stomach and praying to the gods of food poisoning relief. A few months into my brewing experiment, however, I was at the office mid-PowerPoint presentation when I started feeling queasy (more than the normal nausea induced by PowerPoint). I had favorite flavors for different moments: ginger for stomach malaise, lemon for a hot day, cranberry for a cocktail mixer.Īnd now that I was brewing Kombucha myself, I could enjoy it on a daily basis without forking over $4 a bottle. If it was a particularly good day-or a particularly bad day-I might let myself have two. Wherever I was, I had a mental map of where to purchase a bottle and the price difference at each location. I started bringing my own to dinner parties. ![]() Over the years, what began as an occasional treat evolved into a daily need. It soothed me, similar to how I imagine the effects of Xanax, or catnip, might feel. I drank it when my stomach hurt, or when I needed to de-stress before a test, or when I had a reason to celebrate. With kombucha, I was changing the part of myself that thought I’d always feel bad for tasting something good.Įach week I started trading in some of my paycheck for kombucha. Growing up in LA, the only way to have your cake and eat it too was to make the cake gluten-free and vegan and not eat anything else that day. At 60 calories, 4 grams of sugar, and one billion probiotic organisms per bottle, I marveled at how something so delicious could actually be good for me. The store stocked just one brand and flavor, GT’s Original. It was effervescent and tangy, reminiscent of champagne life-affirming. I first tasted kombucha at the health food store where I worked during college. I showed off Toby to anyone who visited my apartment, as slap-happy as a kid at a science fair. Each week I moved the prior week’s batch into an airtight jar in the fridge to further ferment. To start the brewing process I sterilized a large glass jar, brewed black tea with sugar, and fed it to my newly christened treasure: Toby the SCOBY. When I mentioned my interest in brewing, he offered to bring a SCOBY to our first date. Using a keyword search I found a blond grad student who listed kombucha brewing as one of the “six things he couldn’t live without.” He wasn’t my type, but that was of little concern. New to San Francisco, I was already using OKCupid to date and expand my social circle, so I decided to use it to procure a SCOBY. As a daily kombucha drinker, I’d decided to save money (and admittedly develop a deeper relationship with my favorite beverage) by brewing it myself. Kombucha purportedly aids digestion, boosts immunity, reduces inflammation, increases energy, alleviates anxiety and depression, and-according to the most ardent believers-cures cancer. Let me explain: a SCOBY (“symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast”) is the fermentation engine of kombucha, a probiotic tea drink made from tea and sugar. It reminded me of a placenta, slippery and grotesque and beautiful. As soon as I could get away, I raced home to examine my prize. I made my best small talk, occasionally grazing his arm and offering a compliment, so he wouldn’t change his mind about the SCOBY. He arrived holding a mason jar covered in saran wrap. How big would it be? What would it smell like? I waited on a bench at the park. ![]() On the day of our OKCupid date, I woke up thinking not about my suitor, but about his fungus.
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