What Is Kombucha?

Kombucha is a foreign drink to many of us. But whether or not you've heard of it, it's a drink that should be on your radar. Known for its health benefits and medicinal uses, kombucha is appearing on more and more shelves in grocery stores and health shops and can even be brewed at home.

Watch the "Thass Kombucha" Music Video

While you may not have heard of it before, kombucha has been around since 221 B.C., when it was first used as a medicinal cure in China during the Tsin Dynasty and was known as the "Tea of Immortality."

Containing tea and sugar fermented with kombucha culture, or a symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast, kombucha is said to taste like a hybrid of champagne and sparkling apple cider — not your average tea flavor profile. Depending on the type of tea — black tea, oolong tea, green tea, and white tea are ideal — used in fermentation, kombucha can vary from a lighter taste to a stronger, cider-like taste. To make the drink, the kombucha culture, resembling a rubbery pancake, is placed in the sweetened tea, transforming it into a healthy combination of antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, enzymes, and organic acids.

Though scientific research on kombucha is somewhat limited, the tea is known to have quite a number of health benefits. These include detoxifying the body, boosting the immune system, improving digestion and liver function, and slowing the aging process. It's also believed by many to be able to cure baldness, insomnia, intestinal disorders, arthritis, chronic fatigue syndrome, multiple sclerosis, AIDS, and even cancer — all reasons you may want to start drinking it.

If you want to know more about kombucha, the organic drink company Reed's, partnering with Cashmere Agency, just launched its GET CULTURED campaign. To kick off the campaign, they've released the music video "Thass Kombucha," featuring indie rapper Murs and YouTube sensation DJ Dave, to educate non-kombucha drinkers about the tea. Through rap and hip-hop beats, the music video introduces you to kombucha, what's in it, what it can do for you, and more. Watch it here or watch it below!

Haley WIllard is The Daily Meal's assistant editor. Follow her on Twitter @haleywillrd.