First, let's get this straightened out. Fermenting Fairy does not produce kombucha. Many people call our lemonades and kefir, kombucha. They are not kombucha. Kombucha is very unique to fermenting tea. We do not ferment any tea in our kitchen. Whew! Ok now moving on to the good stuff.
Commercial kombucha is not a healthy drink. Period. I don't care how you spin it, drinking kombucha daily or weekly is not going to improve your health and can easily diminish it.
Here are the reasons commercial kombucha is toxic: (home brewed is not any better)
1. The 3 biggest kombucha companies are now adding in a spore-based strain called Bacillus Coagulant. You will see this strain of bacteria in every single packaged food that markets itself as "probiotic". I'm talking chips, bars, cookies, juice, etc. that claim to be probiotics are using B. Coagulan in their products. The problem with this is that B. Coagulan is a lab-made, GMO, patented strain that is NOT from nature, in other words, not natural. Sure, if you measured the strains in soil then B Coagulan may come up but it should not be naturally occurring in Kombucha. Kombucha companies are not using the traditional ways of making kombucha. They are pasteurizing the liquid and then adding in freeze-dried strains and calling it fermented. It is not!
2. Tea, black or green, organic or not, is high in fluoride and other heavy metals. Tea leaves hold onto toxins more than most plants. When you boil them to make tea or whelp, you are releasing the toxins into the water. This brings me to my next point...
3. Tap water is one of the most toxic things on the planet! If you see any product that just says "water" then you bet they are using tap water. Tap water is filled with drugs, medications, fluoride, sewage sludge, etc. Most kombucha companies are using plain old tap water. Check the label and it should say filtered water.
4. Sugar. Sugar is not bad if it is natural and limited. Kombucha has added sugar which means after fermentation, they add more sugar. This is deleterious for your health. Not only that but most kombucha is made from fruit juice. Some bottles have as much sugar as soda. Not good. Hello, insulin resistance!
5. Lastly, there are way more yeasts involved in making kombucha fermented than living bacteria. When you ingest a high amount of yeast daily or weekly, you will inevitably put your body at risk for yeast overgrowth. Candida is natural. Having mostly candida and other yeast as your main microbiome resident is not natural. This shows up as bloating, gas, the yeasty smell in sweat or private areas, toenail fungus, eye fungus, itchy anus, etc. Products higher in bacteria than yeast are much better for your gut! (Fermenting Fairy products have higher bacteria than yeast)
I hope you've learned something today about the dangers of kombucha. If you drink it 1x month then not a big deal but more than that I would be concerned.