Kombucha definitely fits the bill of a strange beverage. Pronounced kom-BOO-cha, it is a sweetened tea that is fermented using a symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast. The fermenting process carbonates it and gives it a trace amount of alcohol. By the way, this colony of 2 billion organisms is alive and growing inside the drink! A handmade tea from China, this tea is renowned for it's health properties to "restore balance and vitality" to your body.

I picked up a few bottles of G.T.'s Kombucha Synergy, which means that it's a blend of 95% raw Kombucha and 5% fruit Juice to review. This version just tastes a bit better than GT's 100% Kombucha. I'll be reviewing the Trilogy flavor, which is raspberry, lemon, and ginger.

When you  get the bottle, it usually has the colony growing at the bottom, so you have to shake it up to get it mixed throughout. Depending on how 'young' the Kombucha is, there will be more or less of these culture strands, since they grow over time. If it's your first time trying Kombucha, I recommend getting one with not much of the culture. Since it is carbonated, don't shake it too hard because it will explode when opening it. This has happened to me.

The smell is very acidic, a lot like vinegar. It's actually almost overwhelmingly acidic, and that cancels out any other smells of the fruit juice. My first impression is that it tastes just like it smells, but also that it is extremely carbonated and sour. It creates a tingling sensation on my tongue that lasts about 5-10 seconds, and leaves an aftertaste like I just ate a slice of lemon. The raspberrry and lemon are evident in this Trilogy, and I'm guessing the ginger just gives it that extra kick of tanginess.

Some funky stuff floating around on the bottom

After about four or five sips, I'm really feeling the carbonation in my stomach and it's making me burp. The strange part is that it's oddly refreshing and I keep going back for more sips. I got lucky with this bottle because there are barely any noticeable strings of the bacteria colony, even though it looked like there was quite a bit on the bottom before I shook it. I've had other bottles with long strings throughout the bottle that are slimy and it makes the drink a little chunky, which is not something I look for in my beverages generally.

For the sake of science, I drank this whole bottle. The company actually recommends drinking only half at a time.  It was hard to get down so much of it, but I actually almost got used to the sour vinegary flavor by the end. Other than the burps and aftertaste, it left me feeling really energetic and refreshed.  It's hard to say whether it was the drink, or the idea of the drink that made me feel that way though.

The label claims that drinking Kombucha supports digestion, metabolism, immune system, anti-aging, and more. It's probiotic and, like Russian kvas, the alcohol from the fermenting process is so small at 0.5%, it's safe for everyone to drink.

The one thing I can say Kombucha would be good for is to detox once in a while. Maybe if you can find a flavor you like, since there is a large variety, you would like to drink it more often. It's worth it for the health benefits and refreshing feeling.

Bonus Kombucha video: Tina Fey does a great job of explaining it: