Kombucha Chronicles x Veg-An Japanese Bento

We’re so proud to announce the collaboration between Kombucha Chronicles and Veg-An, a local family that sells vegan Japanese bentos. Coming in a special size that’s suitable for consumption with your vegan bento, each bottle (300ml) is only S$5.50 each with every bento ordered. 

As both the bentos and kombucha are made in small batches, pre-order is required. The flavours for our Mar/Apr kombucha can be found below while the menu for Veg-An and pre-order details can be found via their Facebook page or Instagram


Images: Kombucha Chronicles and Veg-An

Creating your SCOBY hotel

If you’re going on a holiday and have to stop a batch of brew, or you’re keen to experiment on different types of teas and would like to have backup SCOBYs, then creating a hotel is the best solution.

What you’ll need:
– A glass jar
– Starter tea
– Sweet tea
– SCOBY
– Tea towel/ cloth
– Elastic bands

Instructions:
Simply put your SCOBY into the glass jar and fill half with starter tea and half with sweet tea so that the SCOBY has food. Close the jar with the cloth and elastic band, storing it in a cool place with good airflow. You may choose to close the jar with a proper lid after 2 weeks as the SCOBY will go into maintenance mode by now.

Maintenance:
– Check your SCOBY hotel once in a while and remove the brown yeast particles to keep the symbiosis of yeast and bacteria
– Top up the hotel with sweet tea or syrup every month
– The SCOBYs will continue to grow, so take out the thicker layers and thin them out to prevent clumping
– Every 3 months, take out your SCOBYs and transfer them into another clean jar. Check for mould while you take out the SCOBYs.
– Strain the liquid and use it as starter tea in your next batch of kombucha. Top off your hotel with sweet tea in the new jar.

What went down at our first mocktail mixer

Last Friday saw our first ever mocktail mixing session, co-organised with one of our partners Luke Elijah, where attendees first had a shot of each base flavour (ginger, banana, passionfruit, mixed berries, lavender and cheng tng) while the benefits of drinking kombucha were explained.

Master brewer, Melissa Fann, explaining kombucha to the attendees

After the explanation, then came the fun part – mixing their own mocktails! The mixers that we brought to the workshop were essential oils (100% edible grade), pina colada nice cream (vegan ice cream) and coconut water. To garnish, we even had mint leaves and frozen strawberries.

Virgin sangria of mixed berries kombucha with essential oils of peppermint and mandarin orange.

Everyone got to try mixing similar kombucha bases with different essential oils to taste how the flavour profiles just change with a drop of the oil. The kombucha pina colada mocktail was very well received as well! As the night progressed, each attendee got to bring home a bottle of their own concoction and mocktail of choice.

If you’re interested to attend our next event, do check out our event schedule here.

Feature on Kombucha Pairing on Luke Elijah’s Talk Show

Our founder and brewer, Melissa Fann, was invited to do an episode with Luke Elijah on his talkshow where she did a kombucha pairing session with him. Check out the video below where Luke got to taste 6 different flavours and got some tips on how to pair them with different types of foods.

If you’d like to know more about kombucha and would like to attend a pairing session, do subscribe to our newsletter to be updated on our monthly sessions!

Kombucha Pairing with Festival of Love

We’re proud to be part of the Festival of Love, happening in Singapore this February, and we’re bringing self-love in the form of probiotics to this fest! After all, eating well is a form of self-respect!

Join us in this pairing session as you taste various flavours of kombucha with foods. We like to think that the brewing experience of booch is a little bit like wine…where the different ingredients will play a part in imparting different flavour profiles.

Experience includes:

  • Tasting of various kombuchas
  • Healthy Canapes

Date: Sat, 23 Feb 2019
Time: 3 to 5pm
Venue:  Push Pull Give, 59 Eng Hoon Street, #01-55

The Importance of Gut Health

gut health

Many think of the digestive system is important mainly due to its primary function of digestion and absorption but research is increasingly showing that your gut does beyond that – it protects us against autoimmune and inflammatory disorders such as Inflammatory Bowel Disorder (IBD) too!

As the image above shows, many symptoms and body conditions can result from a leaky gut but how so?

Firstly, studies have shown that there’s a connection between the gut and the brain and gut health can affect our behaviour and moods as up to 90% of serotonin, a neurotransmitter that affects our emotions, is produced in the gut.

gut health

Secondly, many people who complain of inconsistent bowel movements also often complain about an increase in food cravings, inflammatory symptoms, mood swings, irregular menstrual cycles and insomnia. This is mainly because there are many organisms in your gut and the gut microbiome thrives on the symbiosis of the different bacterias (probiotics). When there is imbalance of these microorganisms, that’s when autoimmune disorders such as IBD or diabetes can develop.

That’s why having a healthy and flourishing gut is important – it enables your body to function at a more optimal level. Hence, there is more attention given to foods such as probiotics, probiotics and live fermented foods such as kombucha to repopulate the gut with healthy bacteria!


References:
https://www.rd.com/health/wellness/gut-health/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5622722/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4566439/
https://draxe.com/4-steps-to-heal-leaky-gut-and-autoimmune-disease/

Photo credit: Dr. Axe and Pixabay

Kusmi Tea