When YouTuber Brittany Brosky posted a video of herself tasting kombucha for the first time on TikTok, the post became a viral sensation; it generated over 15 million views and catapulted Brosky into internet stardom. Though Brosky’s reaction to the drink was ambivalent at best, kombucha—or, “elixir of immortality”, as the ancient drink born in China more than 2000 years ago has long been called—has become nearly ubiquitous in the last few years and is available everywhere from Erewhon to bro-y sports bars. With fans that include Gwyneth Paltrow, Madonna, Kourtney Kardashian, Halle Berry, Reese Witherspoon, the Olsen sisters, and more, kombucha is also kind of a lifestyle—a cult of kombucha, if you will.
But what are the health benefits of kombucha? And, what exactly is this fizzy, fermented drink anyway and why is it so crazy-popular? Read on to find out.
What is kombucha?
Like yogurt, kefir, sauerkraut, and kimchi, kombucha is a fermented food that can help rebalance the intestinal flora. Some also swear that it cures acne, improves mood, and even reverses the appearance of gray hair. But what is it exactly?
Kombucha is a slightly fizzy, sweetened drink rich in live microorganisms and polyphenols. It’s made by fermenting green, black, or white tea with a special symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeasts also known as a Scoby or “mother”, which is similar in principal to the starter that’s used to reproduce for sourdough bread. Kombucha was traditionally prepared in the home and has been widespread for centuries in the East—especially in China and Japan where it is considered a “tea for a long life”; it may have even been used by samurai in battle. It’s also popular in Russia, and at the end of the 1990s it made its grand appearance in the United States where it was marketed as a bottled health drink. It’s recently become more widely available in Europe, especially in organic shops and specialized supermarkets, which is good news if you’re a kombucha devotee and a frequent traveler.
Kombucha has a strong, acidic but sweet flavor—which not everyone likes!—with a taste that’s often described as a mix between champagne and vinegar. (It’s not for nothing that Brosky’s expressive video went viral.)
The health benefits of kombucha
Kombucha is considered functional—or capable of improving health and well-being, kind of like adaptogenic mushrooms and certain herbs. Traditional (and current) consumers claim that it can alleviate conditions ranging from baldness to diabetes to kidney stones to high blood pressure to liver disease to cancer.