Kombucha is commonly made from a base of sweetened green or black tea (hot water and sugar are combined, tea leaves are steeped, then that mixture is cooled, and a small amount of previously brewed kombucha is added in to balance acidity), to which the brewer adds a SCOBY (or Symbiotic Culture Of Bacteria and Yeast) starter, a round blob that looks like a flattened jellyfish. While kombucha-which is technically a fermented tea-has been consumed throughout the world in places like Russia and China for centuries, it's still a relatively new drink in the U.S. So, the added benefit of a wellness-promoting product made the kombucha taste that much sweeter.

Taking a closer look at the bottle, I realized kombucha was some kind of health drink that apparently, according to marketing jargon on the label, helped the founder's mother beat cancer. It certainly wasn't sweet (which I appreciated), and I sort of liked the fermented funky flavor. I wasn't entirely sure how I felt about the taste at first. Pow! Sour tang and prickly carbonation walloped me in the face as I swallowed the vinegary drink. But going with Original for a first taste seemed like the right idea. Out of pure curiosity, I bought the bottle, noting a few other flavors on the refrigerated shelf, like Gingerade, Cranberry, and Citrus (now named Lemonade). So, I flipped over the vessel to find tea, sugar, water, and '100% pure love!!!' listed as ingredients. Looking for a not too sweet soda alternative at Whole Foods in Venice, California about seven years ago, I picked up a clear glass bottle with a white and blue label that read, ' G.T.'s Kombucha.' The flavor was described as 'Original.' What's kombucha? I wondered.

Synergy kombucha blue