If This is Healthy, Sign me UP! Longevitea Kombucha
I am currently LOVING this new product – Longevitea Kombucha for 3 reasons. It tastes delicious (it’s hard for me to keep myself to one or two cups a day), it looks gorgeous (as do the bottles when you are finished) and it’s made by a young female entrepreneur here in Belize (20 years old!)
Yes Kombucha! Don’t roll your eyes. I promise not to call it Booch. EVER.
Kombucha is a fermented, slightly fizzy tea/fruit drink that’s been around for decades but has become quite the rage over the last few years. Riding the wave of probiotics, the miracles of fermentation and the importance of “gut health” – it’s become almost mainstream in the US over the last 5 years and in the last 2 or 3…it’s made it’s way to Belize.
Read: 8 Evidence Based Health Benefits of Kombucha Tea
I first tasted kombucha at the amazing Namaste Cafe on Caye Caulker. And IT WAS SO DELICIOUS. A bit tart, sweet, a little bit effervescent…so refreshing. What?! This is healthy??! Sign me up!
I even asked the owner for a bit of her SCOBY – the weird name for a weird item. A Symbiotic Culture Of Bacteria and Yeast. A gluey shiny disk that kicks off the fermentation process for home brewing.
I had great plans of making gallons of it at home during last year’s lock-downs.
But then I started reading about special gas releasing lids and large glass bottles…and about exploding batches splattering ones ceiling with sugary fermented glop. And the SCOBY sat in the back corner of our fridge for months…maybe even a year.
So when I stopped into Farmhouse Fresh Market (love this place) a few weeks ago, I was more than happy to taste a free sample of a new brand of kombucha that they were carrying…
Longevitea Kombucha, made in Belize. In a bunch of very appealing flavors.
It is DELICIOUS! And some of my favorite flavors that are so very Belizeans. Tambran (the local way to say Tamarind – a sort of sweet and tart flavor that is addicting…one I’m ALWAYS looking to use in other ways…like BBQ sauce) and sorrel and ginger. YUM.
I had to find out more…
These pretty 32oz jars of kombucha are brewed in Belize by 20 years old Zyania Alonzo. She was born in Belize City (in the year 2000! I can’t even wrap my head around that!) and grew up in both Caye Caulker and the city. She read about kombucha during the pandemic and started brewing her own in the summer of 2020 – drawing inspiration from GT Dave (“the kombucha billionaire”) and his story.
There were exploded bottles and not-so-great recipes. Zyania was looking for the perfect blend…not overwhelmed with sugar as so many kombuchas can be – one that could help her cut down on her soda cravings.
I think she’s found perfection. Delicious and so elegant looking…
You can find these delicious products for sale in San Pedro at the Farmhouse Market and Cafe, in Caye Caulker at Barefoot Caribe, in Belize City at BelizeOn (an on-line shop that I definitely need to know more about!) and Carnivore (a very cool shop that I haven’t visited yet, but I love following on Instagram) and hopefully coming soon to spots across the country.
It really is delicious. Sweet but not too, tart and fizzy…super refreshing and then…the bottles! I love love love these bottles.
A beautiful way to collect tiny shells…or to display palm leaves or to sprout cuttings. I love them!
Try it out. Let me know what you think. I’m a giant fan. The sorrel and ginger is so good. I’m trying tambran next.
And follow Longevitea on Instagram and Facebook. She posts the prettiest pictures. This 20-year-old not only makes fantastic kombucha but her marketing and photography is gorgeous.
How pretty is this?
For two other incredible young female Belizean entrepreneurs check out my posts on Twig and Pearl beautiful Leather Goods and Regina’s Paletas
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