Love Kombucha Review

You guys probably remember me babbling on about the awesome people at Love Kombucha sending me literally everything in their range! No? Well they did and it was like the best day (or week) of my life!

I received 4 different flavours of each sized bottle in my goody box; Ginger, Ginger & Lime, Original and Blueberry. They come in two different sizes; 250ml glass bottles with screw cap lids & 500ml glass bottles with clip-lock fastening. The label, packaging and branding are all fantastic and you really feel like you’re indulging in a luxury item but at such a great price – the 250ml bottles are a mere £2.25 and the 500ml bottles £3.45. Quite a bargain for Kombucha if you ask me!

Love Kombucha are based in Newark, Berkshire and in their own words are “a UK family business who are passionate about putting good things into our bodies. We like feeling good!”

Kombucha is thought to have originated in China during the Qin Dynasty of 220BC, however it has been popular around the world and enjoyed by many people for centuries. One really interesting fact that I read about though is it’s spotlight with Russian scientists in the 1980s after the Chernobyl disaster – they realised that those who had survived the extreme radiation had consumed Kombucha and those that had perished hadn’t! To read more about the origins of Kombucha check out this link.

For those of you that don’t know exactly what kombucha is, here is a little snippet from the Love Kombucha site that sums things up perfectly!

Love Kombucha is a refreshing soft drink, made by adding a live culture to sweetened green tea. The culture consumes the tea and sugar and creates Kombucha! It’s simple recipe of organic ingredients includes; filtered water, Green tea, Sugar and a Kombucha culture which is removed before bottling. Then we add the flavour – natural blueberries, grated ginger, mango, freshly squeezed lime.

Not only is Love Kombucha made from organic ingredients it is suitable for Vegans and those following a Paleo diet  as it is gluten, grain and dairy free. Oh and although that it states sugar as one of the main 3 ingredients it is pretty much sugar free as the sugar is consumed within the fermentation process. Kombucha weighs in with only about 3g of sugar per 100ml. If you still think that’s a lot there’s about 11g of sugar in 100ml of orange juice! So really it’s not that bad at all.

So what’s so great about this Kombucha stuff then?!

1. Kombucha is packed full of B-vitamins, enzymes and an antioxidant called DSL which helps to boost your energy and immune system (although not enough to use as a vitamin supplement).
2. It’s high in polyphenols and acetic acid which aid in weight loss by inhibiting certain enzymes in your digestive system thus reducing fat digestion. Polyphenols also tote anti-carconegenic, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties lowering the risk of contracting things like heart disease and cancer. Acetic acid is also great for gut health.
3. There’s another acid that is thought to be anti-carconegenic – glucaric acid. Glucaric acid helps to inhibit the enzyme beta-glucuronidasecan, although I couldn’t find out too much about the role it plays within cancer sufferers it does sound like it is a sugar hungry enzyme that makes cancer drugs ineffective by consuming parts of the sugars contained within them thus breaking down the compound structure.  I’m not a scientist though so please don’t take this one for granted! One thing I do know though is that glucaric acid aids in the detoxification of the liver!
4. Kombucha contains a hefty amount of probiotics which can improve digestion and overall gut health. In fact it is thought to help combat candida thus improving conditions such as leaky gut and stomach ulcers.
5. It also contains glucosamine which helps with joint health and can help to combat joint pain in those suffering from conditions such as arthiritis.

So, what does this fantastic stuff taste like?!

Ginger

I went straight for the Ginger as I am a huuuuge ginger beer fan. I didn’t know what to expect and out of sheer excitement I cracked open the bottle as quickly as I could and had a cheeky guzzle before pouring into a glass. The taste was similar to a mild ginger beer but just with a hint of sweetness, there was also the most awesome fizz that I had ever experienced from a drink that simply is naturally carbonated by the fermentation process. The only sort of ‘odd’ flavour going on here was a slight acidic taste which I guess would be the acetic acid like you would get from a vinegar, and that’s what Kombucha is all about, after all. When I poured it out into the glass it was beautifully pale in colour and all I could think was that this would be the best Summer bevvy around.

Well, I can’t really say anything negative at all, I mean I wasn’t that in love with the Blueberry flavour but I didn’t hate it either! I felt great guzzling through all of my bottles of Kombucha, I mean I really drank like a queen for an entire week. It was great to drink after a hard workout and I never found the sugar to be even a slight problem. By the end of the week I started to feel a lot more energised and I even got this little ‘happy’ boost after drink it. The fizz was mind blowing, it was like a soda stream had gone into overload and I loooooved it. If I were to recommend a starting point to anyone I would say start out with the Original flavour, it was everything you could ever want from any fizzy drink and more.

I’m sold. Where can I buy this glorious stuff?

You can also find it at my fave one stop online Paleo shop Perfectly Paleo.  Alternatively you can get on to the Love Kombucha and find a stockist nearer to you.

If you’d like to follow Love Kombucha online and see what they are currently up to then check out their social links below:

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