I tasted my first kombucha back in 2009, as my roommate at the time was into it. Though the drink itself has been around for ages, it was the early days of commercial booch to my knowledge – and I’ll just say that I remember thinking “so this tastes like feet…”. It was very unpleasant to me. Thus, I stayed away from kombucha for quite some time with that unpalatable experience burned into my memory.
What is kombucha? I guess I should start there. Simply put, kombucha is fermented tea. Just like other fermented foods, kombucha provides tons of probiotics and flooding your system with that good bacteria is known to be very beneficial. In addition to those good bugs, it also packs in B vitamins, antioxidants and electrolytes – along with a smidge of alcohol, it is a fermented beverage after all.
Over the past couple years the market has exploded with so many different types of kombucha and navigating the shelves of these bubbly bottles can be challenging. It definitely helps to taste test multiple flavors and brands to find one you like. And making the transition from non-kombucha drinker to kombucha fan can be a challenging one. That’s where Live Soda comes in.
Live Soda, an Austin-based kombucha company, was started by Trevor Ross in memory of his older sister who lost her battle with breast cancer and to improve his family’s overall health. With his dad addicted to soda, he started to wonder if he could sub out the sugary carbonated beverage for a kombucha that tasted like soda. And Live Soda was off and running.
With flavors like Culture Cola (classic cola flavor), Living Limon (a lemon-lime flavor), Dreamy Orange (think orange creamsicle) and Sparkling Ginger (gingery and so good), you’re bound to find one that tickles your taste buds if you’re a soda drinker or not. My personal favorite is the Pure Doctor flavor, which has a Dr. Pepper like flavor. My dad was a big soda drinker (regular and diet) and he LOVES the Revive Root Beer. If you like root beer, they’ve nailed the flavor here. Live recently released two new flavors: Pomtastic Blueberry and Refreshing Rhuberry.
We love Live! It gives us a delicious beverage that echoes the soda drinking days of old without all the artificial gunk and loads of sugar. Sure, sugar is used in kombucha for fermentation but that’s nothing compared to the sugar bombs on the soda aisle.
If you haven’t tasted any flavors of Live yet, go here and locate a store that carries them near you! FYI Most Target stores now carry many of the flavors! Check the single drink section near the produce section!