I continue to work my way through NessAlla Kombucha's brews. It's a Madison company where brewers ply their trade just across Starkweather Creek from me so I get to support a local business as I indulge my fancy for kombucha.
With a name like Elderberry Healer, I was expecting my sampling to provide some pukka health benefits.
While I haven’t been ill since I drank this stuff, I am not convinced that I can attribute this wholly or even in-part to it.
Elderberry has a reputation for being a good treatment for colds and probably other ailments. According to the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, it’s possible that elderberry will make you feel better if you have a cold or the flu, but the jury is still out.
So, with the salutary effects being questionable, I am left to consider the gustatory ones.
In addition to elderberry, this kombucha features hibiscus, ginger, licorice root, and oil of grapefruit. Regardless of whether it’ll help with a cold, it sounded very tasty.
The brew was a lovely red color – hibiscus is good that way – tinged with brown and a bit hazy. On first sniff my nose caught mildly sweetened tea with a great floral element. It also smelt of elderberries with just a hint of anise.
My tongue was quite pleased to be greeted by a healthy fizziness and tasted of elderberry, hibiscus, a hint of ginger zing, and, thankfully, slightly sweetened tea. I say “thankfully” because I’ve had kombuchas that could compete with the sweetest teas of the South for sheer cavity-inducing terror. The ginger became more prominent on the finish and the anise flavor reared its head here too.
This is an excellent brew! I appreciated the restrained sweetness and adored the elderberry-hibiscus combo. I am not a big licorice root person and, luckily, it was not a major player here but did add some nice contrast as did the zip from the ginger.
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