Kombucha - a new (and kind of weird) way to drink tea

Once in a while, if you drink enough coffee, you are bound to need a break. At least that’s the case for this coffee drinker. When you hit the ‘coffee wall,’ as I did the other day,  you have lots of other beverage options available, some of which seem stranger than others. For example, I recently posted a picture of cucumber soda that I thought was strange (I still haven’t tried it). Yesterday, I drank something out of the ordinary—kombucha.

Kombucha is a fermented tea beverage that is sometimes sold as a healthy alternative to other drinks. Proponents of kombucha say that the live cultures in it are good for your digestive system. The doctors at WebMD say there is no conclusive evidence that kombucha is that good for you, especially commercial varieties that have been pasteurized and no longer have the live cultures.

Some of the kombuchas have a small amount of alcohol in them (usually less than 0.5%) that give them an extra punch. It is common to add some fruit juice to the mix too, as was the case with the “superberry” kombucha I drank. It was a bit sweet and had a slight vinegar taste—an acidity that exploded on my tongue.

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An Evening of Non-Conformity

I went to Powell’s Books Thursday night to hear Chris Guillebeau speak. For those of you who don’t know, Chris writes a blog called the Art of Non-Conformity (AONC) and recently published a book by the same name. One of his goals in life is to create a movement (yes, a movement) that questions the status quo and encourages people to lead unconventional, remarkable and meaningful lives. Chris lives in Portland (though you might ask, in Portland, where being weird is normal, is it really non-conforming to not conform?), so when I heard that he was coming to speak at Powell’s, the last stop on a 50-state book tour, I figured it would be interesting to hear what he had to say.

I stumbled across the AONC a couple months after starting this blog (the non-conformist title is completely coincidental) and found that he had some ideas about life that I could relate to. One of the things that really attracted me to his writings were his ideas about traveling. Chris has a goal in life to travel to all 192 countries in the world by 2013 and he’s already made it to 149. He seems to understand the joys and new perspectives that traveling brings, something I could really relate to. In addition to the book, he wrote a useful guide about traveling unconventionally that I am still working to put into practice.

Chris Guillebeau

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A PDX Coffee Adventure-Part 3

After our talk with Matt, Sam and I decided to walk up to Coava Coffee, just a few blocks away. I had been planning to stop by and talk to them about their new Kone filter that was just released for sale. Coava has been very effective at creating a buzz (pun intended) in the social media sphere. They are very active on Twitter, and the Kone was recently reviewed favorably by The New York Times and Gizmodo. I was hoping to talk to them about their marketing strategies and to try some Kone-poured coffee.

The rain was falling steadily and a hostile cold wind was blowing as we walked to Coava. We were relieved to get inside the café and out of the weather. I was glad to be back in one of the first PDX coffee shops I stumbled across in my exploration of the area’s coffee scene.

We walked up to the counter and started talking with Matt, one of the co-owners, about the Kone filters. Keith, the other owner, was busy boxing up Kones for shipment while Matt was taking care of the bar. They’ve been very busy lately with getting their products ready to ship.

Kones in waiting

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