Hello there! Welcome to the BRING YOUR OWN KOMBUCHA Blog, where I will post about everything health and wellness. Let me start off by telling you, I am in no way purporting to be an expert on wellness. On the contrary, this blog will document MY journey to wellness – everything I have learned thus far and thereafter. Hopefully, you will find my journey useful and interesting.
This blog came about because every since I can remember I have wanted to become a journalist. I swear it stems back to my preschool days watching teenage mutant ninja turtles and being in awe of April, the reporter on the show. I wrote for my local newspaper in high school, majored in journalism in college, and was a website correspondent in law school. And now here I am – starting my own blog.
The name Bring Your Own Kombucha came about because I wanted to create a blog that was more of a conversation instead of a lecture. I literally want you to bring your kombucha, kick your feet up, and read my blog!
My obnoxious obsession with kombucha has taken over my social media accounts and in return my friends and family keep asking me, what the heck is kombucha. So I figured why not write my first post about my favorite fizzy, good for you, go to drink.
I actually heard of kombucha for the first time from @ShutTheKaleUp’s instagram page. (Find her here: https://www.instagram.com/shutthekaleup/?hl=en). Let me just note, I am OBSESSED with her instagram stories as she is SO SO SO informative and just a really cool human. Anyways, I found alot of health and wellness bloggers were drinking it so I decided to give it a try.
I sipped it. And I became OBSESSED with it. So what is it?
Kombucha is a fermented tea made of water, tea, sugar and SCOBY. SCOBY is a symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast. The SCOBY is responsible for fermenting the sugar and tea solution.
Kombucha may be all the rage right now but it has actually been around for thousands of years. Allegedly it has been around since 220BC!
Kombucha contains probiotics (naturally of course!) which helps promote good digestion, detoxification, reduces bloating and it is naturally energizing. In fact, some mornings I replace my cup of coffee with some good ole’ booch. (In case you didn’t know, the short name for kombucha is booch).
I drink 1/2 bottle to 1 bottle of kombucha a day. (It can cost anywhere from $2-$5 a bottle). But it makes you feel so GOOD. This is how I describe it to my friends who are trying it for the first time: You know the feeling you have when wake up in the morning, you feel the skinniest you feel all day. When you drink kombucha, you feel that kind of skinny all day.
The first time my best friend tasted it (Health-ade Pink Lady Apple flavor) she told me it tasted like champagne (maybe that is why we love it so much). I really love the fizzy taste. It satisfies my cravings for soda. Now if that isn’t a healthy replacement, then I do not know what is!
And if your local – you should check out Nourished by Nature located in Bradley Beach, NJ – where they actually serve kombucha on TAP! (Check them out here: https://www.instagram.com/nourished4u/?hl=en)
As for the store bands, my favorites are Health-ade and KeVita. My favorite flavors are Maca-Berry, Pink Lady Apple, Pomegranate, and Beet. (I also cannot help singing “We got the beat” everytime I drink the beet flavor – whoops!).
The Health-ade brand is organic, non-GMO, raw, natural, vegan, gluten-free, kosher, has no artificial ingredients, no preservatives and no dyes!
Best part: EVEN SHOPRITE NOW CARRIES KOMBUCHA – and for slightly less than Whole Foods. It just goes to show how accessible being healthy can be.
If you decide you love it, but you do not love the price of it, no problem. There are plenty of kombucha kits where you can make it yourself at home. Here is a kit I recently purchased on Thrive Market. (https://thrivemarket.com/cultures-for-health-kombucha-tea-starter-culture).
(P.S. If you want a free month of Thrive Market here is my referral link: http://thrv.me/bringyourownkombucha )
Like I said previously, I am not a doctor but I know how it makes my body feel and that is why I am sharing it with you. Thank you for taking the time to read my blog. Till next time, sip on that BOOCH! xx Erica
Want to read more about Kombucha? Here are some reliable articles.
http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2013/09/30/226531998/kombucha-magical-health-elixir-or-just-funky-tea
http://www.health.com/nutrition/info-about-kombucha
Link to my favorite brand: http://health-ade.com/
Picture was taken at Nourished by Nature.
