Why I love coffee, and it's not the caffeine!

Coffee. It's hard to live in Melbourne and not get swept up by coffee (although it is possible, just ask Min!). I'm a flat white girl. I still don't really know the difference between it and a latte, but I like the sound of it. Flat white. Mhmm. 

Anyway, I've been thinking a lot recently about why I love coffee so much because a good friend of mine has recently given up her daily delicious cup (or two) of creamy goodness. She boasts of benefits after just two weeks. They include: balanced mood and energy; improved sleep patterns (less need to oversleep); less upset stomach and weight loss from not feeling overly hungry.

Could I do with better sleep? Yes. Could I do with more stable moods? Yes. But could I give up coffee? No.

Coffee and chocolate
in Belgium

When I think about coffee the first thing I think about is sitting opposite my boyfriend. We are lucky enough to have similar schedules that allow us to have coffee together regularly. Sometimes we go out for coffee and breakfast. Sometimes we just grab one from the coffee shop across the road. Often we just make it at home with my stovetop percolator that he gave me Christmas. Coffee is a time when we sit together, distraction free. And it is moments shared with him, and friends, that I cherish. Not the actual coffee.

I could drink tea. I could drink chai. I could drink juice. 

However, my association between coffee and connecting is too strong. When I think about quitting coffee, I think about losing connections! Which is ridiculous really. But that's how my brain works.

Thankfully coffee (and milk) sits ok with me and I have no real reason to quit. I will continue to enjoy my coffee and my moments with loved ones.

Do you drink coffee? Or do you prefer something else? What is it that you love about your drink of choice?

Kombucha tea, anyone can make it

Last time I wrote about starting to brew kombucha tea at home. I am very excited to share that my first brew was a success!! I was prepared that it might take some trial and error but it was surprisingly easy!! Here's how it looked along the way...

Scoby sal on Day 1 - 11/09/14

Day 4 - you can start to see the new
scoby forming on the top.
Sal is floating somewhere at the bottom.

Day 7

Day 7

Day 15 - the new scoby is looking strong,
he has been named Gary :).
Who needs pets when you can have
a culture?!

Day 15

At day 15 I tasted it and decided I wanted to start drinking it. The longer you leave it the more sugar the scoby "eats" and the more vinegar-y it tastes and it already tasted quite sour. 

Now, I'll tell you that in the last few days the tea was so dark that I could not see Sal anymore. I presumed she was happily sitting at the bottom while the new and bigger scoby Gary took all the limelight at the top. I thought I would see her when I poured the tea into a glass bottle for storage. But  guess what?! She wasn't there!!! I'm not sure if she attached herself to the underside of Gary because apparently that can happen. 

Scoby's can be handled, however, you need to clean your hands with vinegar first. I didn't have any vinegar so I just moved it with a wooden spoon. I guess I'll never know what happened to Sal but I like to think her and Gary have become nicely acquainted ;).

Removing Gary to start
the second brew.

Gary on the left waiting to go in the second brew
and the tea ready to drink on the right. 

I've been drinking about half a glass of tea a day. I think I'll play with flavouring next brew because it is not that easy to drink. It'll take a few weeks to notice health benefits although I already feel my stomach doing things straight after I drink it.

On a side note - kombucha tea makes for some wonderful conversation starters. A few nights ago I was explaining all about the tea to my housemate and her boyfriend. A few hours later they were completely shocked to see a man on his bicycle in the street carrying a giant jar with 3 scoby's in it!!! "It's Laura's dealer" they said! They couldn't believe it and said they would have thought he was carrying black market livers if it wasn't for seeing my brew set-up a few hours earlier! 

Has anyone been inspired to try making kombucha themselves? I'd love to give you a starter scoby so just let me know. As you can probably tell, you can become quite attached to the little cultures and it is a lot of fun AND a great sense of achievement. I'll be the dealer ;).

xx

Scoby Sal and my first attempt at kombucha tea

Hi! In this little jar is Scoby Sal. In the short time I've owned her I've become oddly attached! She's a scoby, a culture used to grow kombucha - a fermented tea full of probiotics. It is meant to be great for gut health and costs next to nothing to make at home! Sal was given to me in a small amount of starter tea which is necessary to start the ball rolling. Each time I brew a tea, an additional scoby will form (so I'm told). You can give the extras away or roll them into the next batch. 

I have some memories of kombucha tea from when I was a child. I remember dad used to grow this mushroom looking thing in some water and he'd drink the water and the mushroom would grow. He brewed his in a big glass bowl and his 'mushroom' (scoby) grew really big!

There's a lot of information on the internet on how to make kombucha tea at home. I like this video myself, it's clear and simple. I also found that recipes vary a bit. For example some say to use white sugar and others say use brown. They often recommend organic but I'm a student so I'm hoping regular stuff is sufficient! This is what I did for my first attempt and we'll wait to see how it turns out!

In a clean jar (mine holds just over 1 litre), I added 1/2 cup of sugar and boiling water. To help dissolve the sugar I used a wooden spoon. If you are freaking out about the sugar, don't worry, the scoby eats the sugar up! 

Next I chucked four normal black teabags in and left them for around 30 minutes. Then it's waiting time. Scoby's don't like hot baths so it's important to let the tea/sugar mixture cool to room temperature. Finally I could pour Scoby Sal into the mixture where she will 'do her thang' for the next week or so. A piece of cloth and a rubber band stops any critters getting in.

Sal in her new home

And that's it for now! She'll just idle away in the background until the fermentation process is complete. Stay tuned to see if Sal and I have success...   :)

Jumping in with two feet!

I love reading a blog that resonates with me and makes me think "I'm not alone on this one". Plus I enjoy writing. I write travel stories, essays, letters and love notes. But I've never written a blog (ok that's a lie. I had to write a blog about social media for a social media unit at university).

Why start now? Because my boyfriend is sick of hearing me babble on about symptoms, food, growing scoby's and other health related things. The things that I happen to be incredibly fascinated by and passionate about! OK he's not the only reason. It's about documenting my journey and having something to look back on and smile and giggle. It's about the successes and the failures. And it's about creating more conversations.

My blog is going to be focused on health and health related matters. I have suffered tummy aches for most of my life and could never work out why. About 12 months ago I started to investigate and I am getting there slowly, but I'll tell you about that along the way. I hope that my trials and tribulations might help others on their journey and that I can learn from people here too.

So this is my new adventure. What adventures have you been putting off?

You gotta have a Full English Breakfast when visiting England right?!