Celebrate Kombucha Day with 4 healthy cocktails

This Sunday, 21 February is World Kombucha Day (yep, it’s a thing!) and to celebrate we’ve rounded up four delicious nutritionist-approved cocktail recipes you never knew could be made with ‘booch’!

If you haven’t tried kombucha yet, it’s a fermented drink made of oolong tea, sugar, bacteria and yeast. It might sound a bit weird, but trust us – it works. It’s the perfect alternative when you find yourself reaching for that sugar-laden, nutritionally-void soft drink – because it tastes great and it’s refreshing as heck.

Kombucha has become an increasingly popular drink choice over the past few years. The rise of kombucha is in part due to the associated health benefits, but also because it just tastes great. It has a delicious fizz making it the perfect healthy alternative to soft drinks. It’s not new, kombucha has been around for thousands of years, but with the increasing prevalence of people experiencing gut health disturbances, this healing probiotic beverage has become the talk of the town. It is a great source of probiotics and is excellent at supporting gut health. Kombucha supports liver health, one of the body’s key detoxification organs and contains an abundance of B vitamins, which have been shown to boost energy. Last but certainly not least, it is seriously delicious. And a great alternative to sugar-laden fizzy drinks.

Whipped Lemon Fizz Mocktail

This delicate mocktail isn’t just pretty-as-a-picture. Nope, it also comes with the added bonus of being high in probiotics essential for maintaining gut health and immunity. Loaded with antioxidants: Thanks to the addition of cinnamon, also renowned for lowering blood sugar and dramatically reducing insulin resistance – good news for all of us trying to balance the effects of added sugar. Flooded with Vitamin C: two tablespoons of lemon give your immunity an added boost, along with folate and potassium, an important electrolyte.

Prep time 10 Cook time 0 Serves 2

Ingredients

400 gm tin of chickpeas, strained, juice reserved
2 cups and 2 tbsps Nexba Elderflower and Lemon Kombucha
1 handful ice cubes
2 tbps freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 tsp vanilla powder or 1 vanilla pod
1/2 tsp cinammon

Method

1. Firstly, prepare the aquafaba. Strain chickpeas until you are just left with just the water. Combine chickpea water and 2 tbsp Nexba Elderflower and Lemon Kombucha in a mixing bowl.
2. Whisk until soft peaks form. It works, trust us! This usually takes 3-5 minutes with an electric whisk. Set aside.
3. Combine ice, lemon juice, remaining Nexba Elderflower & Lemon Kombucha, vanilla and cinnamon in a blender, and briefly blend.
4. Pour into glasses and top with aquafaba whip. Dust with cinnamon, and garnish with lemon wedges.
5. To use your remaining chickpeas, why not serve them as a bar snack? Just dry them thoroughly, toss in your favourite Indian spices and a pinch of salt and bake in the oven, shaking halfway, for 30 minutes at 220°C.

Pear and Honey Kombucha Cocktail

Pears tend to get neglected on cocktail menus so we decided it was time to shake things up by adding this delicious Pear & Honey Kombucha Cocktail to your list. If you’re not much of a sweet tooth, we recommend omitting the honey as our kombucha also provides natural sweetness. Garnish with pear wedges, lime and mint to make this cocktail as pretty as it is delicious.

Servings 2.

Ingredients

3 shots bourbon
1 1/2 cups Nexba Apple, Pear & Ginger Kombucha*
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp honey, melted
1 handful ice cubes
Pear wedges, to garnish
Lime wheels, to garnish
Mint leaves, to garnish

Instructions

1. Combine bourbon, kombucha, lemon juice and honey in a cocktail shaker, shake.
2. Divide ice cubes between 2 glasses and pour your cocktail over the ice.
3. Garnish with fresh pear wedges, lime wheels and/or mint leaves.

Apple Kombucha Gimlet Cocktail

After taking a sip of this Apple Kombucha Gimlet recipe you would never guess it contains just 5 ingredients, two of which are optional garnish. How you ask? The secret is in the quality of ingredients. Gimlet cocktails are traditionally made without ice however we do recommend that you refrigerate the kombucha ahead of making this recipe.

Servings 2

Ingredients

2 shots premium quality gin
1 cup Nexba Apple, Pear & Ginger Kombucha*
1 tbsp lemon juice
Lime wedges, to garnish
Thyme, to garnish

Method

1. Combine gin, Nexba kombucha and lemon juice in a cocktail shaker. Shake until well combined.
2. Pour into two glasses.
3. Garnish with lime and/or thyme.

Healthy Grapefruit G&T

Fancy a G&T with a fruity, refreshing twist? If like us, you sometimes find grapefruit a little too bitter, this is the drink for you and perfect for Kombucha Day.

Servings 2

Ingredients

1 handful of ice cubes
2 shots craft gin
1/2 grapefruit, freshly squeezed
1/4 cup Nexba Rose Lemonade Kombucha (optional)*
Nexba Classic Tonic Water*
Grapefruit wedges, to garnish
Rosemary sprigs, to garnish

Instructions

1. Distribute ice cubes between 2 glasses.
2. Pour over gin and freshly squeezed grapefruit, gently mix.
3. Add Nexba Rose Lemonade Kombucha.
4. Top up with Nexba Classic Tonic Water
5. Garnish with grapefruit wedges and rosemary sprigs.

To celebrate Kombucha Day Nexba is offering 20% off their entire range at Coles, both online and in-store. Nexba is proudly 100% Australian owned and made, and their kombucha range contains at least 95% Australian ingredients.