It looks like a jellyfish and you make tea out of it. Have you already had the pleasure of getting to know kombucha? Even though it hardly looks enticing at first glance, it contains a whole lot of substances beneficial to your health and for treatment.

 Not many people who see a kombucha culture swimming in an infusion can beleive that the drink can not only benefit the human organism, but can also be very tasty. If the fermentation time is got right, the taste can be similar to that of burčák wine. It is sweet and slightly sour.

Miraculous Mushroom from Tibet

Some sources describe kombucha as a mushroom, others regard it as a symbiosis of yeast and acetic bacteria. In any case, however, it is a gelatinous matter in the shape of a plate, which floats in a golden or brown infusion – depending on the fermentation time.

Kombucha came here from Russia, which it most probably reached through traders from China and Tibet. It is not a recent fashion and the drink experienced a boom even before the Second World War.

Positive Effects of Kombucha

It did not get the nickname the miraculous mushroom for nothing. Despite its unpleasant appearance, it has a lot of positive effects on the human organism. Thanks to the high content of glucuronic acid it boosts the immune system and cleans the human body of harmful substances. It also helps prevent cancer. Kombucha itself offers very effective protection against infections and passes this property on to the resulting drink. Kombucha tea therefore acts as a natural antibiotic.

This, however, is nowhere near the end of the list. Kombucha also helps with the treatment of inflammations, diabetes and high blood pressure, alleviates menstrual pain and migraines, as well as positively supporting the fight against obesity.

Making Kombucha Tea

Making this miraculous drink primarily takes time. After we make green or black tea (a few cups is enough, good loose tea is the best), we mix it in a large glass (for example a five-litre gherkin glass) with white sugar, water and a kombucha culture, and the fermentation process begins, lasting at least one week. The longer we let the drink ferment, the more it obtains its marked, sourer taste. Less fermented tea is much sweeter, but also contains a lot less medicinal substances.

It is recommend that one to three cups of the finished drink be drunk a day, there should be no risk of overdosing – only at the start of consumption could there be hyperacidity of the stomach. And if you find kombucha too acidic, you can dilute it with apple juice or green tea. Or sweeten it with sugar or honey.