A Guide to How Much Kombucha You Should Be Drinking
Kombucha is great! It’s delicious and packed with so many health benefits, but have you ever asked yourself if you’re overdoing it?
Tons of people wonder whether they’re drinking too much kombucha or they’re not sure if they’re getting their proper daily amount.
Many of us start following health trends without doing a lot of research on how much or how often we should be consuming different foods, and kombucha happens to be one of those items that many of us don't know how much we should consume on a regular basis. Sometimes when you try to do our own research, you'll likely find different articles from people with different opinions and sometimes that can get confusing, so we’re going to break down and explain everything about kombucha, its benefits and everything else you need to know to make a healthy decision for yourself.
First off, What is Kombucha?
Kombucha is a sweetened tea fermented by a mixed culture of bacteria and yeast called SCOBY. Once it is fermented it becomes a refreshing, acidic, slightly alcoholic, carbonated drink filled with bacteria that benefits the body. Kombucha also can have a variety of tea leaves but a large majority of distribution use black tea, green tea, or a mixture of both.
It's a pretty simple process and you can even make them at home with our Kombucha Starter Kit.
How is Kombucha Made?
The tea is brewed just like any other tea. You put some tea bags in boiling water and let it steep for a long time. The tea bags are then taken out and the liquid tea is poured into a jar. You then add sugar to give the yeast something to ferment, after that, you add a SCOBY Then you cover it with a cheesecloth filter and a rubber band then store it in a temperature-controlled room where the tea can ferment.
This process can last between 7 to 45 days depending on the preference of the sugar and acid ratio. If you let it ferment for 7 days it'll be more of a sweet less acidic kombucha whereas a 45-day fermentation will have a very dry but very acidic kombucha.
The longer the yeast has to break down the sugar the longer the bacteria has to create their various assets and the more dry and acidic your kombucha will taste.
Once you are satisfied with the product you take out the SCOBY and put it in a slightly acidic medium to use it at a later time or dispose of it if you want to.
Kombucha Product Ingredients
So now that the fermentation process is complete, you can enjoy the kombucha as is or you can add extra ingredients to manipulate the flavour. You can add fruits, artificial sweeteners, probiotics, herbs and spices - the choice is up to you!
In order to get an idea of how much kombucha to drink per day, it is important to know the ingredients you're consuming. What we suggest is you research the brand of Kombucha you like and see the types of additives they use, if they use any.
Common Ingredients
When researching the ingredients and additives of Kombucha, these are the common ingredients you’ll come across:
- Tea leaves
- Sugar
- Alcohol
- Acids
- Bacteria/Yeast
In the right amount, all of these ingredients can have a positive influence on the body (this also goes for sugar, if it is natural and at a low level), however if you overdo them, they can cause problems and can be unhealthy.
It's really important to always enjoy everything in moderation. If you are home brewing kombucha with limited equipment, we recommend a daily maximum of 4 oz of Kombucha a day. However, if you are purchasing kombucha we would limit 1 - 2 16 oz bottles a day.
We hope this clears up some of your questions regarding how much kombucha you should drink. We also suggest you do your own research, but most importantly listen to your body.
In health,
Nadia