I am admittedly not the trendiest girl around. I don’t have designer shoes or a luxury car or get my hair blown out. Actually, where I live getting your hair blown out means you drove with a window open, but I don’t do that much either. The NYC crowd would have a field day with how un-cool I am with my suburban clothes and addiction to Dunkin’ Donuts iced coffee. I am about as mainstream as they come, and for this I am generally unapologetic. It’s who I am and I’m OK with that.
Although un-hip, I am quite interested in doing things to keep myself and my family healthy. I try mightily to get my children to willingly eat vegetables. I don’t cook red meat. I choose fresh ingredients rather than food-in-a-box whenever possible. I am embarking on an experiment to be a vegetarian, and I recently gave up caffeine for a month. I am willing to try new things – within reason.
There was a recent article in the New York Times about the popularity of a fermented tea drink called kombucha. Apparently this tea can do all kinds of magical things like re-growing hair, calming digestive issues and curing hangovers. Those who drink it claim that it is quite delish. Sounds good, right? I’m in! I could be the first one in the suburbs to partake of this delightful elixir! How do I get it?
This is where things get a little hairy for me. Because kombucha is made by immersing a disk of bacteria into brewed tea and letting it sit, unrefrigerated, for up to two weeks.
A disk of bacteria.
In your tea.
On purpose.
I am so not down with that.
I understand the benefits of probiotics. I eat yogurt (from the refrigerator, thank you very much). But, I have to admit that I wouldn’t even drink the plain tea if it sat out for two weeks – and the introduction of the bacteria disk into the equation does nothing to improve the situation for me.
I suppose the nature of kombucha is essentially similar to beer. Fermented substances in a drink are not that uncommon. And yet, I can’t quite get my head around voluntarily introducing bacteria into a completely acceptable drink like tea. I guess I don’t brew my own beer either, although I do enjoy drinking it.
There are packaged versions of kombucha available, including one made by Red Bull. I am slightly more comfortable with the manufactured versions, mostly because I work under the assumption that beverage manufacturers are as terrified of being sued as I am of dying of kombucha poisoning.
I am a big sucker for slick marketing and putting anything, even something utterly disgusting, in a pretty bottle and giving it a fun name goes a long way to drawing my interest. If I actually went out and purchased a Carpe Diem Kombucha, it would be an ultimate marking success for them.
Ooooo…pretty bottle….fancy name…who cares what’s in it? I must have it!
I want to be cool and brave enough to jump on this bandwagon and give kombucha a try. But the reality is that it’s probably beyond my capabilities to be that cool and brave. And the Dunkin’ Donuts coffee is working just fine for me, thanks!