Your favorite probiotic drink is on tap at Seward, and we’re so excited to report that we’re the only grocery in town who offers it.

Verdant Tea’s tangy and refreshing kombucha tea is now available from the tapped kegs in Aisle Two. Bring your own bottle or buy one of ours, but go ahead and pour as much as you like.

Currently, we have two taps and two flavors: Pink Robot (guava) and Ginger Vesper (ginger, edelflower, and pepper), both made with Verdant Tea’s fermented oolong tea. (Kombucha is not made from mushrooms, but a pancake-like colony of yeasts and bacteria.)

Kombucha tea originated in Asia and came to Germany at the turn of the 19th Century. Since the then, kombucha has been promoted as an immunity-boosting tea that can strengthen the body against many ailments.

It became widely used in the U.S. partly because it can be made at home. It is especially popular among people with HIV and the elderly (according to the American Cancer Society website) because of claims it can boost immunity and slow aging. There are no available human test studies on the health benefits of kombucha, however.

We drink kombucha for refreshment since the boost of B vitamins, probiotics from fermentation, and a little caffeine from oolong tea is plenty enough reason to enjoy this drink.