This week I decided to review another tea that claims to help you live a happier, healthier life.

I am talking about kombucha, you know the tea that is sold in glass bottles and looks like it has stuff growing in it? I decided to try a bottle of kombucha I found on campus called Suja. Suja is an organic, environmentally conscious company who produces multiple flavors of kombucha. When you go on their website they have everything from berry flavors and lemongrass, to ones that are meant to help you focus. Now, I tried the Pineapple Passion-fruit kombucha and let me tell you, it was horrible! I could not even enjoy the little bit of taste it had because I was too busy gagging from the smell of vinegar. Not only that, at the bottom of the bottle there were a bunch of clumps that, when they got into my mouth, were slimy and gross. After all of that the after-taste it left was as if I had drank a jar of pickle juice! One thing about me—I hate pickles.

The thing is, most people do not drink kombucha for the taste, they drink it for health benefits. The company claims it can help you with your everyday life. When I was reading their frequently asked questions, one was about the benefits of drinking kombucha. They made sure to tell us that it has over 5 million probiotics to help with keeping your body healthy. One thing that did shock me was the fact that they have a whole section dedicated to juice cleanses—or as they call it, a program. They have programs from one, to three, to five days of consuming nothing but kombucha. This did not shock me, but what did is how people were asking if they would be hungry and their answer was that you will feel hunger but do not worry about it because it will pass. Their reasoning for this is that your body just needs to get used to consuming liquids only, and to just ignore the fact that you are hungry.

Another question I saw was about side effects, which they said you could have headaches, dizziness, fatigue and moodiness, and that if you experience this just drink water and rest. Instead of advising people to stop they just tell them to suck it up and suffer through it! Their program is also only 880-1180 calories per day which is lower than what most people should be eating per day. Suja is also another company that claims that their product will bring balance and give your body a break from the everyday struggles it’s put through, by just drinking fermented tea.

I know I just went on a rant about their program but it shocked me that they would not only have a juice cleanse but tell people to ignore their body telling them they need food. This is also not a cheap bottle of tea, being about five dollars for my one bottle of tea that I drank. If you want to try kombucha, just be prepared for the taste of vinegar and broken down food particles to hit you when you first open the bottle, and please do not force your body through something that is clearly not healthy for you.