Staying healthy throughout the academic year becomes challenging with late night studying and early morning classes. Sipping orange juice and stuffing the body with vitamins gets repetitive, so students often search for the newest way to stay strong and fit.
Luckily, the search ends with an ancient Chinese tea called Kombucha. This concoction is fermented for 30 days to create a bottle full of probiotics, amino acids, antioxidants, active enzymes and polyphenols.
Although the Chinese take credit for the invention of this nutritious product, Millennium Products cofounder, GT Dave, mainstreamed the elixir after realizing that the odd-flavored tea aided his mother during her struggles with cancer.
The company began small, with GT Dave hand-delivering products to health stores. Soon after, Millennium Products grew to its current size, which includes multiple flavors of Kombucha and expanding availability across the country, according to www.gtskombucha.com.
Kombucha is known for its life-enhancing qualities as well as the provision of health benefits. According to the Web site, Nobel Prize-winner Alexandr Solzhenitsyn wrote about how Kombucha gave him what he needed to survive Siberian slave camps.
Kombucha's properties give the human body's various systems a boost in order to stave off everyday factors that harm our health. The probiotics help the immune and digestive systems by replenishing the body with microorganisms that are destroyed by antibiotics and pesticides.
Active enzymes, which are only present in foods that have not been pasteurized or cooked, provide the body with the live energy it needs, according to the Web site. The polyphenols fight off the free radicals that cause stress on the body and lessen physical youth and vivaciousness.
Acids in Kombucha help the body in a multitude of ways, including detoxification, digestion, the deactivation of harmful viruses and the fortification of cell communication. Each ingredient has a purpose and gives the body the boost it needs to keep active and alert.
Millennium Products claims its creation results in healthy skin and hair, and aids in weight loss as well as appetite control, giving Kombucha everything it needs to be a hot seller. However, the FDA does not support these assertions.
The benefits seem to outweigh taste and appearance when it comes to this ancient tea. According to the Web site, the initial first gulp may startle drinkers, due to its lack of sugarcoated goodness. Cola and infused water have taken over vending machines and restaurants, leaving taste buds with a craving for sweet drinks.
The flavor of Kombucha has the bite of vinegar thanks to the way it's cultured, accompanied by significant tartness. The Chinese beverage is naturally "effervescent," which means it has a little bit of carbonation that occurs during the fermentation process.
Kombucha comes in a variety of flavors such as Guava Goddess, Gingerade and Cosmic Cranberry. While the color of each bottle is different, buyers may still notice the alien-like forms floating around inside.
The floaters are the strands of Kombucha cultures, which are completely harmless even if they are a bit scary looking. The strands are created after the bottling process and are a good sign, since they show how live, active and still growing the Kombucha is. The more strands the better, since this is the best part for the body.
Although GT's Kombucha began on the west coast, it has since moved eastward and is boasting a growing presence in the Buffalo community. Just a hop, skip and jump away from North Campus is Feel-Rite Fresh Mart, on Maple Road, which sells the product to local health freaks.
At a price of $3.99 a bottle, the wonder tea comes at about the same cost as a specialty Starbucks coffee, but replaces the heart-palpitating caffeine with a natural energy boost filled with nutrients.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
