All kombucha starts as a sweetened tea. That tea can then be fermented, just as beer, wine, yoghurt or sauerkraut is fermented. Every fermented food or drink uses its own specific set of microorganisms. Kombucha is fermented with a "scoby" (a Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast). The scoby feeds on the sugar that is added to the tea. From that moment on, the magic happens. In a period of about 1 month (depending on the temperature and the size of the vessel) the scoby will 'eat' the sugar in the sweet tea and turn it into tasty and lightly sparkling kombucha, which is actually very low in sugar, caffeine and calories. At this point, you either drink the plain kombucha as is, or add herbs and fruits to create different flavours. Every Yugen kombucha contains a cold pressed juice and four different herbs.
Now let’s take a quick look at the ingredients and what they have to offer!
It all starts with tea...
Tea has been around for thousands of years. You probably know that tea comes from a plant, but did you know this plant is called Camellia Sinensis? All of the major varieties of teas, such as white, green, oolong and black tea, are made with the Camellia Sinensis plant. The processes to attain varying levels of oxidation of the tea leaves determine which tea is made.
Since tea leaves were first infused in China, it has delighted us with its range of flavours and potent health benefits. And without tea there would be no kombucha, so we at Yugen are very thankful for that special leaf.
sugar is the prime food source for our hungry bacteria and yeast, the living organisms that make kombucha so unique. These organisms need sugar to ferment the sweetened tea into tart kombucha. Even though sugar is such a contested ingredient, we love it cause it feeds our wonderful scoby. The tiny bit of left over sugar balances the brew and gives it that perfect sweet/sour flavour.
We love juices! Every Yugen kombucha contains one pure organic juice.
Ginger, lemon, apple, mango, turmeric, cherry, grapefruit, pineapple. Can you keep up? Our wide variety of pure pressed juices are part of what makes Yugen so unique.
We choose not to work with aroma's or concentrates. We keep it simple and natural. This means our juices are minimally processed, this results in more vitamins, enzymes, minerals, and antioxidants, or in short: all the good stuff!
The use of herbs is as old as humanity itself. Throughout history mankind has relied heavily on herbs to cure certain diseases. Every civilization, from Mesopotamia, ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome to India, China and later the Americas, added useful medicinal knowledge to the ever-growing herbal database.
We use more than 20 different herbs in our kombucha, and each herb is unique to a flavour. Can you tell which herbs are in every flavour?