Is living a green and healthy lifestyle wearing you out? Now you can protect your health and your environment while you sleep.
Out of all the items in your home, your mattress is likely the most indispensable and at the same time, taken the most for granted. Manufacture and supply schemes of the leading mattress companies require long, costly shipping chains often originating over seas, shipped, and then trucked from storage warehouses to retail stores where they end up getting trucked again to be delivered to your home.
The other problem with synthetic, petroleum-based foam mattresses is the issue of “off-gassing.” The scent, or VOC, produced when a mattress is taken out of its package may contain toxic vapors like acetone and toluene that can lead to serious irritation of the eyes and mucus membranes and can accumulate in the body, never to be expelled.
One company hasn’t been sleeping on the ill effects of the mattress industry and has developed an innovative, completely centralized manufacture and direct supply chain from the product’s inception to your bedroom. Keetsa Mattress Company figured out a way to eliminate harmful off-gassing using a natural, plant oil-based foam which can be recycled when it’s life cycle is complete.
Joe Alexander, General Manager of Keetsa Mattress.
You know, “green” doesn’t just mean you throw an organic cover on your mattress and now you’re a green company. We’ve addressed it from the manufacturing, from the shipping, from the distribution, to getting it to the customer’s home, to the product itself, and to ultimately, the demise of the product.
For more ways to save the planet while you sleep and the full interview with Joe Alexander, click here.
Buying a mattress is one of those onerous tasks that can be costly, time consuming and confusing with the incredible amount of options out there. Further, what do you do with your old mattress once it’s done? Will my new mattress be safe for my health and the environment? Fortunately, there are folks out there like our guest, Joe Alexander, General manager of Keetsa Mattress, who have the answers and the product to satisfy your need to rest clean, green, and easy.
JA: My name is Joe Alexander, Keetsa Mattress.
GA: Title?
JA: General Manager of Keetsa Mattress.
GA: So this is a new store. Right? I mean, you just moved in here.
JA: Just moved in a few months ago.
GA: How’s it been going? People been treating you right? Is this the right demo?
JA: You know, I get the “demo question” from a lot of advertisers a lot. “What’s your demographic?” You know, anybody with a brain who has a mattress, everybody needs to sleep somewhere and we’ve got something that hits people for their price point, we’ve got people who are concerned about their health, we’ve got people who are just, “I need a bed right now, this moment! We’ve got almost every niche covered with this product.
GA: So you can actually have access to this product and not have to be a millionaire.
JA: Well that’s (been) my catch phrase from day one. You don’t have to spend a lot of green to go green. We’ve attracted a nice little bevy of celebrities. The other day I sold to Roger Craig, former 49er and Calvin Klein model. Roger Craig saw our commercial on TV in San Jose and called my store and said, “I’m looking for that guy on TV.” And so I’m like, “Yeah right, it’s Roger Craig,” and he went and bought a bed and now he wants to tell everyone about it, he wants to come on the TV show. Craig (Newmark) from Craigslist, Jaime (Hyneman) from Mythbusters, Jerry Brown the (former) Governor of California, Matt Cain the pitcher from the San Fancisco Giants. Here we’ve had TV Caprio, she’s one of the lead actresses from “Across the Universe,” she’s gonna be in the next Spiderman musical, and George C. Scott’s son. You’re right, you don’t have to come in and spend five grand to get something that’s good and comfortable and good for the environment and good for your health. We were doing another radio interview the other day and it’s funny how a lot of people, just because it has the green label will buy something without going out and doing any research so hopefully part of this job is not only providing people with good mattresses but educating people on whether you buy our product or not, this is what you should be looking for and this is what really constitutes “green” or “organic” mattress.”
GA: Let’s talk about your industry, on the whole, I mean, mattresses are products that get used and then discarded. What’s the life cycle of a typical mattress.
JA: You know what, when you say “typical mattress,” that encompasses Sealy, Serta, Simmons. Those are the top-selling brands in the world. And those beds, the lifecycle on those beds, is very short. The reason why is because those companies are all publicly held, so they’ve got to show a high profit margin to their investors. So there’s a lot of hands in there, a lot of money already up front and by the time it comes to you, they’ve got to sell it at a reasonable price. So the only place they have to cut, is the quality of the material and we see those customers on a daily basis. “I’ve had my bed two, three, four, five years and it’s already got a big body impression.” It’s because the quality of the foam is a very low, cheap quality of foam. The springs don’t give out, that’s not why it’s got a big body impression, it’s the foam that compresses very quickly. It’s a 1.2-1.8 density foam and it’s not designed to last very long. People go out and buy it because (they) recognize the name and they come in and go, “Gosh, I’ve had my bed just a few years and it’s already got a body impression.” So a typical Keetsa will last you about 12-15 years. We warranty it for 20. I never really encourage anyone to keep it that long. As long as you keep it covered nicely in a breathable space it should last you a good 12-15 years.
GA: How much of it is foam and how much of it is other stuff?
JA: Well, like your bed isn’t all memory foam. A lot of people think, “Oh, that’s all memory foam.” If it was all memory foam, it would be this big gooey mess. There’s everything up from 5 (inches) to down to an inch and that’s really where the difference in the pricing is. With our cheap model, we don’t go, “Oh, we’re gonna cut back on the quality of the spring or the quality of the foam.” From the top to the bottom, it’s the same density, it’s the same coils, the same materials. As you go up in price, it’s just more foam.
GA: So, I want to talk to you about Keetsa’s manufacture and supply chain.
JA: Yeah that’s a really important aspect. Another thing I was explaining just the other day, you know, “green” doesn’t just mean you throw an organic cover on your mattress and now you’re a green company. We’ve addressed it from the manufacturing, from the shipping, from the distribution, to getting it to the customer’s home, to the product itself, and to ultimately, the demise of the product. Most of that supply chain that I was just talking about of the typical mattress company is they’ve got factories set up around the United States, little regional factories, and they will buy their springs from Leggett and Platt and Leggett and Platt has a factory and they make the springs and they truck it to the manufacturer and they truck the fabric and DOW chemical trucks the chemicals and the foam companies truck everything. So all this stuff is trucked to this central location. Then it’s manufactured. Then it’s packaged and it’s trucked to these companies warehouse like Mattress Firm or Sleepy’s and stuff like that and it’s trucked to their warehouse. You buy it in their Sleepy’s store and you buy it and they put it on a truck and take it to your house. It’s a tremendous amount of carbon footprint and gas. Now we manufacturer overseas. It’s all done in one location. We source everything from inside our own company in China. It’s in the “fair trade zone,” it’s not a Chinese-owned company, and it’s a Green America certified company. So everything’s sourced in that one place. It’s put on a tanker, it’s put on a barge with millions, and I tell people all the time, with millions of iPods and iPads, because if anybody wants to talk smack about it, if they’re carrying around an iPod or an iPad…
GA: Yeah, I don’t have an argument against setting up shop in China…
JA: Well as long as they do so responsibly.
GA: It can be mutually beneficial.
JA: Well, we got more of an argument about it before the economy tanked. Then, when people started being more cost-conscious those arguments dried up real quick. I’m very conscious about that because I’m a consumer as well. There’s a lot of unregulated junk that comes out of China like the lead that was found in drywall several years ago and things like that but there are, in the 80s, foreign trade zones that were set up and the factory that we ship from is in one of those foreign trade zones so it’s not really regulated by the Chinese government. But everything’s shipped over with millions and millions of other products, lands in our warehouse in LA and you come in and you buy it and you either take it from here, it’s UPS’d here, or we UPS it straight from the factory to your house. So the amount of carbon footprint, coming farther distances, is actually smaller than ones made domestically.
GA: So the foam itself is made of what.
JA: The foam itself is just like a synthetic, and this is one of the things that I go into with people as well, there are two types of foam in the world: there’s latex foam and there’s memory foam, that’s it. A lot of people will go, “Well I’ve got a regular bed. What’s the difference between a regular bed and memory foam?” Well, if you have a regular bed, it’s memory foam. They might call it convoluted foam or high-density foam or something – it’s memory foam. Memory foam is a synthetic-based foam. Now, within those two sub-categories you’ve got, Simmons has a latex mixed with about 50% synthetic, 50% latex.
GA: Which is a petroleum product.
JA: Exactly. Then you’ve got companies like Tempurpedic which is 100% petroleum. But then you have people like our who do 80% synthetic, 20% plant oil. It’s a caster bean oil and what that does, obviously, it lessens the dependency. There’s another step, though, that’s important in that it goes, the foam itself goes through a three week process that accelerates the “off gassing” so by the time you open up that bed at home there are no detected VOCs, there are no detected harmful VOCs. A VOC, obviously, is a scent. You smell a rose, that’s a VOC. Everything has a VOC to it.
GA: Petroleum products often have…
JA: Oh, well they have a toxic VOC. Theres toluene, there’s formaldehyde, there’s a whole host of…
GA: I remember when I first got my mattress from your petroleum-based competitor before I knew better that it reeked!
JA: Oh, of course it did! I remember when I used to sell it I had customers coming in with bloody noses, eyes all beet red. Well, there’s toluene, all those chemicals are going into your blood stream, going into your brain, you know, your body doesn’t know what to do with that. It’s probably not a bad thing that your body is sensitive to chemicals so you know what you’re dealing with but it’s not good for anybody. Just like when you paint your house with new paint and it smells like that for a while and it goes away, there’s a finite amount of material in there that will “off gas.” It’s not like it’s an infinite supply of chemicals that’s coming out. And that’s what happens with this product. Thought the curing process, we accelerate that so you have the benefit of the memory foam without the toxicity normally associated with memory foam. So that’s an important distinguisher between our products. We’re currently working on getting a Greenguard certification, we’ll be one of the only foam mattress companies in the world that have that. What we want to focus on right now, if you go to Keetsa.com, you can download our VOC report. We have a third-party VOC report that shows all the things normally associated with memory foam. The other aspect of that, as well, is the fire barrier. Basically if you go into any of the mattress stores around here and ask, “What do you use for your fire barrier?” They’re going to tell you it’s a “proprietary blend.” Okay, well that’s tantamount to going to the grocery store, pulling down a box of cereal and where it says “Ingredients” it says, “Trust us, it’s good for you.” I guarantee you in this age of “eco” and “green” and “organic,” if there was one thing that was good in that fire barrier they would have banners throughout the store trumpeting that information. The fact is, they buy it from DOW Chemical and it’s not good and most of the major brands use it because it’s cheap. What we’ve done is taken the time to engineer something that’s non-toxic to make the beds fire retardant.
GA: This is the outer layer of the mattress?
JA: What companies do is they treat the fabric and they wrap the foam in the fabric and that fabric is beneath all the other fabrics. And that’s just to provide (protection) that if there was a heat source, it wouldn’t catch the petroleum-based foam on fire. Latex? Latex uses wool. To make synthetic foam fireproof with wool you’d have to have a hugh-freakin-mongous stack of wool on top of it and it’s just not practical. So we use stuff like glycerol which is a sugar, phosphate salts which is a food additive to make the bed fire retardant. The Federal Government doesn’t care what you use, you could use dead baby seal skin, it has to pass the test. So we took the time and the money and the research to find alternatives to the cheap DOW Chemical treatment. So those are the aspects of how the mattress, the foam is a more, when we say “eco friendly,” it’s better for your home’s environment and your overall health in that it’s not gonna subject your body to a lot of chemicals and it’s not going to fill the air in your house with a lot of chemicals. It’s not going to “off gas” in your house, basically.
GA: So, now I’m done with my Keetsa mattress, I’m ready to get rid of it or replace it. What do I do? Is there a company take-back?
JA: There are places throughout the United States, not very many at this point, but where we have stores set up in California there are a couple different recycling places. There’s one in Oakland that will take all the mattress that come through, a lot of the waste management companies will filter the mattresses that they pick up and several places that do pick up and take there and they also have bins there where you can take your mattress to the dump. They’ll filter them over to a company called DR3 and DR3 has people that’ll take them apart, shred a lot of the stuff, and then they have third party purchasers for all that material. Let’s say you live in Beutte, Montana and there’s no mattress recycler there. Now, the nice thing is that this will outlast most major brands by two or three times.
GA: Are these mattresses subject to things like bed bugs and dust mites?
JA: Any surface you can get bedbugs. If you’re in that surface you could get bedbugs in your couch, you could get bedbugs on a 100% latex mattress, you could get bedbugs in a sleeping bag. Bedbugs eat you. Insects just need food and water, that’s all they need. And dust mites just need organic material, skin cells and stuff that sloughs off of our body and your sweat for a food source. So you hear sometimes how latex is dust mite resistant. Well, latex itself might be but and insect is not gonna make the distinction of whether or not that dead skin cell is sitting on a latex mattress or a foam mattress. It’s gonna eat the dead skin cell.
GA: How about mold?
JA: I had a customer in San Francisco, they moved from back East, they had a 100% latex mattress, they had intended to get furniture for it, they set it on the ground and a couple months later they got a Keetsa, they got a bed frame, and they moved their (old) bed and there was all mold underneath. It’s because everybody’s body sweats. When our bodies go to sleep they shut down but actually it increases the metabolism because your body’s rebuilding and so we sweat. Gravity takes that moisture, pulls it down. That’s why beds need to be on a box spring or a platform, wood slats, to allow for air flow. Old houses, there’s mold already in the wood because they’re over 100 years old. Moisture and warmth and darkness – mold. So the whole bottom of their bed was moldy, the floor was all starting to raise up with mold and that was a latex (mattress). Latex itself may or may not but when materials are around that and get introduced to it…
GA: So we’re here in Soho in New York City where you can try out one of these beds. Where else can we find Keetsa?
JA: Well, we’ve got six stores in two countries. We’ve got five on the West coast, one here, one in Toronto… or four on the West coast, one here, and one in Toronto and we’ve got about 45 retailers throughout the United States as well, so a lot of major cities carry Keetsa.
Are winter energy costs freezing you out? Why not try some space heaters that actually save space and money?
It’s unfortunately all too common for most homes, whether in a hot or cold climate, to be improperly insulated against whatever weather conditions it faces. This could mean thousands of dollars a year in energy costs not to mention the toll energy transmission and generation takes only to be wasted on the end user.
One solution, at least for those bracing against cold, is selecting one of the new lines of electric space heaters available. Here are a couple things to keep in mind when buying:
1.) Only go for newer model heaters up to date with all the current safety features which bare the UL stamp of approval.
-and-
2.) Choose a thermostatically controlled heater, as they avoid the energy waste of overheating a room.
One such model that fits these specs and was tested here at Green Air HQ is the Dayton U33 Electric Space Heater available at Air-n-Water.com. It’s compact, thermostatically adjustable, and even electrostatically adjustable saving us from bank account busting winter heating costs.
For more specs on space heaters and ways to stay sustainably comfy, check out the following links.
Kombucha is a fermented tea that is imbibed for medicinal purposes. Although there is limited specific scientific information supporting any purported benefits due to a lack of studies being conducted, there does exist much anecdotal information purporting its historical medicinal value.[1]. Kombucha is available commercially, but can be made at home by fermenting tea using a visible solid mass of microorganisms called a kombucha culture or mushroom.
Biology of kombucha
The culture contains a symbiosis of Acetobacter (acetic acid bacteria) and yeast, mostly Brettanomyces bruxellensis, Candida stellata, Schizosaccharomyces pombe, Torulaspora delbrueckii and Zygosaccharomyces bailii.
The culture itself looks somewhat like a large pancake, and though often called a mushroom, a mother of vinegar or by the acronym SCOBY (for “Symbiotic Colony of Bacteria and Yeast”), it is scientifically classified as a zoogleal mat.
History and names
The recorded history of kombucha began in Ukraine and Russia during the late 19th century. In Russian, the kombucha culture is called čajnyj grib чайный гриб (lit. “tea mushroom”), and the drink itself is called grib гриб (“mushroom”), “tea kvass” квас, or simply kvass, which differs from regular kvass traditionally made from water and stale rye bread.
In Chinese, kombucha is called hongchajun 红茶菌 (lit. “black tea fungus/mushroom”), hongchagu 红茶菇 (“black tea mushroom”), or chameijun 茶霉菌 (“tea mold”).
In Japanese, the kombucha drink is known as “kōcha kinoko” 紅茶キノコ (lit. “black tea mushroom”). Both the Chinese and Japanese names use hongcha or kōcha “black tea” rather than cha 茶 tea or lü cha 綠茶 “green tea”.
Japanese kombu 昆布 “a Laminaria kelp; sea tangle” is dried and powdered to produce a beverage called kombucha (lit. “kelp tea”). The English kombucha fermented tea name is pronounced like, and confused with, the Japanese kombucha seaweed tea name.[2]
Some promotional kombucha sources propagate falsehoods that the history of this tea-based beverage originated in ancient China or Japan, but in both cases centuries prior to knowledge of tea (see history of tea in China and history of tea in Japan). One author claims kombucha, famously known as the “Godly Tsche [i.e., tea]” during the Chinese Qin Dynasty (221-206 BCE), was “a beverage with magical powers enabling people to live forever”.[3] There are no recorded references to either tea or “godly tea” during the Qin dynasty. Another author claims an etymology from “a Korean doctor named Kombu treated the Japanese Emperor Ingyō in 415 A.D.”[4] The early Japanese history Kojiki does mention an envoy from the ancient Korean state Silla who was “deeply versed in the medical art” and cured the Emperor’s sickness – but his name was 金武, which is pronounced Korean Kim/Gim Mu or Japanese Kin/Kon Mu.[5]
Components
Kombucha contains many different cultures along with several organic acids, active enzymes, amino acids, and polyphenols. [6] For the home brewer, there is no way to know the amounts of the components unless a sample is sent to a laboratory. Kombucha, has been safety-checked by The US Food and Drug Administration . Final kombucha may contain some of the following components depending on the source of the culture: Acetic acid, which provides much anti-microbial activity; butyric acid, gluconic acid, glucuronic acid, lactic acid, malic acid, oxalic acid, usnic acid, as well as some B-vitamins.[7]
Due to the acidic fermentation process used in its brewing, Kombucha contains ethyl alcohol in amounts that vary from 0.5% to 1.5%[8], depending on anaerobic brewing time and proportions of microbe. Commercial preparations are typically 0.5% for distribution and safety reasons.
Additionally, some tea makers offer a dried version of kombucha, mixed with the tea leaves, that dissolves in hot water.[9]
Health Claims
Kombucha proponents[10] claim many advantages such as increased energy, sharper eyesight, better skin condition, and better experience with foods that ’stick’ going down such as rice or pasta.
A review of the published literature on the safety of kombucha suggests no specific oral toxicity in rats,[11] although it has also been shown to increase the size of both the liver and spleen in mice.[12] While no randomized case-controlled studies have been published in humans, several unsubstantiated reports have suspected liver damage, metabolic acidosis and life-threatening toxicity.[13][14] Other reports suggest that care should be taken when taking medical drugs or hormone replacement therapy while regularly drinking kombucha.[15] It may also cause allergic reactions. [16]
Other health claims may be due to the simple acidity of the drink, possibly influencing the production of stomach acids or modifying the communities of microorganisms in the GI tract.[citation needed]
Scientific Claims
Health claims for kombucha focus on a chemical called glucuronic acetate, a compound that is used by the liver for detoxification. The idea that glucuronic acid is present in kombucha is based on the observation that glucuronic acid conjugates (glucuronic acid + waste chemicals) are increased in the urine after consumption of kombucha.
Early chemical analysis of kombucha brew suggested that glucuronic acid was the key component, and researchers hypothesized that the extra glucuronic acid would assist the liver by supplying more of the substance during detoxification. These analyses were done using gas chromatography to identify the different chemical constituents, but this method relies on having proper chemical standards to match to the unknown chemicals.
A more recent and thorough analysis, outlined in the book in Analysis of Kombucha Ferments by Michael Roussin.[17] suggests a different explanation. Roussin reports on an extensive chemical analysis of a variety of commercial and homebrew versions of kombucha, and finds no evidence of glucuronic acid at all. These scientific measurements contradict the earlier studies and conflict with the original hypothesis.
Instead, Roussin discovered that the active component in kombucha is most likely glucaric acid. This compound, also known as D – glucaro -1,4 lactone, helps in the elimination of glucuronic acid conjugates that are produced by the liver. When glucuronic acid conjugates are disposed in the bowel during the elimination process, normal gut bacteria can break up these conjugates using an enzyme called beta-glucuronidase. Glucaric acid is an inhibitor of this bacterial enzyme, so the end result is that the glucuronic acid + waste is properly eliminated the first time, rather than being reabsorbed and detoxified over and over. Thus, glucaric acid probably makes the liver more efficient.
Interestingly, glucaric acid is commonly found in fruits and vegetables, and is being explored independently as a cancer preventive agent.[18] It has also been discovered that the bacterial beta-glucuronidase enzyme can interfere with proper disposal of a chemotherapeutic agent, and that antibiotics against the gut microbiota can prevent toxicity of some chemotherapy drugs.[19]
Reports of adverse reactions may be related to unsanitary fermentation conditions, leaching of compounds from the fermentation vessels,[20] or “sickly” kombucha cultures that cannot acidify the brew. Cleanliness is important during preparation, and in most cases, the acidity of the fermented drink prevents growth of unwanted contaminants. If a culture becomes contaminated, it will most likely be seen as common mold which is often green, blue or black in color. Often novice brewers will mistake the brownish root filaments on the underside of the culture as a mold contamination when it is seen through the surface of a thinly formed culture.
Safety and contamination
As with all foods, care must be taken during preparation and storage to prevent contamination. Keeping the kombucha brew safe and contamination-free is a concern to many home brewers. Key components of food safety when brewing kombucha include clean environment, proper temperature, and low pH.
There is a low rate of homebrew contamination which might be explained by protective mechanisms, such as formation of organic acids and antibiotic substances. Thus, subjects with a healthy metabolism do not need to be advised against cultivating Kombucha. However, those suffering from immunosuppression should preferably consume controlled commercial Kombucha beverages.[21]
In every step of the preparation process, it is important that hands and utensils (anything that is going to come into contact with the culture) be dish soap clean so as not to contaminate the kombucha. Kombucha becomes very acidic (in the neighborhood of pH 3.0 when finished) and so can leach unwanted and potentially toxic material from the container in which it is fermenting. Food-grade glass is very safe. Gunther Frank says on his website [22] that besides glass, acceptable containers include china, glazed (without lead) earthenware, stainless steel and food-grade high density polyethylene (HDPE) and polypropylene (PP). Keeping cultures covered and in a clean environment also reduces the risk of introducing contaminants and insects.
Mold contamination on the culture surface.
Maintaining a correct pH is an important factor in a home-brew. Acidic conditions are favorable for the growth of the kombucha culture, and inhibit the growth of molds and bacteria. The pH of the kombucha batch should be between 2.5 and 4.6. [23] A pH of less than 2.5 makes the drink too acidic for normal human consumption, while a pH greater than 4.6 increases the risk of contamination. Use of fresh “starter tea” and/or distilled vinegar can be used to control pH. Some brewers test the pH at the beginning and the end of the brewing cycle to ensure that the correct pH is achieved and that the brewing cycle is complete.
If mold does grow on the surface of the kombucha culture, or “mushroom,” it is best to throw out both culture and tea and start again with a fresh kombucha culture.
Kombucha mother and the symbiotes
The Kombucha Mother, shown in a square shape, is not unlike the thickness of a well risen pancake, and takes the shape of its container. It is a rapidly multiplying bacterial mass floating atop a yeast filled fluid. The bacteria are of the genus Mycoderma (Greek for fungus skin). The yeast below are involved in fermenting and receive oxygen for this process, passed by the bacteria. Acetic acid is created by the yeast, hence the second, title word Aceti (Latin for of the acid). Kombucha is “Mycoderma Aceti”. Kombucha is “mother of acid”. [24]
“Kombucha tea” is a homemade drink of the living medium of Kombucha. Kombucha contains both bacteria and yeasts. Normally these two microorganisms are at odds with one another, but in this case there is a symbiosis. It is able to repel other organisms such as molds and bacteria that would normally contaminate such a long-standing culture. It keeps its liquid’s pH low to accomplish this.
The lake of black tea has been highly sweetened with sugar.
Brew
Tea is the medium of the mother. Kombucha tea is a tea flavored to the tastes of the consumer and to the general gustatory sense of a flavor profile that is inevitably, to some degree, pungent and acidic. Black tea is a popular choice but green tea may also be used as well as any other flavor. The resultant flavor profile should take into account the tendency for a slightly acidic and pungent background. Sugars assist fermentation. The sweet brew is added to the container with the mother, and the container covered with a porous cloth to deter dust and organisms while allowing fresh oxygen into the container.
During a week or two of fermentation, frequent samples are taken to taste for some desired balance between sweet and sour. Eventually the liquid is tapped. Some liquid is retained to keep the pH low to deter contaminant microorganisms. The process repeats itself indefinitely. The mother will eventually produce a “daughter”, which can easily be directly handled, separated like two pancakes, and moved to another container. The yeast in the tapped liquid will then continue to live. A second wait time for about a week produces more carbonation.
Left entirely alone the Kombucha settles into months of production time (producing daughters perhaps), creating an ever more acidic and vinegar-dominated cider. At any point the Kombucha can be checked for daughter or tapped or have tea added. An amount of liquid from the previous batch will preserve some yeast.
References
1. ^ Kombucha / Manchurian Tea / Mo-Gu / Fungo Japon
2. ^ Crystal Wong, U.S. ‘kombucha’: smelly and no kelp, The Japan Times July 12, 2007
3. ^ Harald W. Tietze, 1995, Kombucha” The Miracle Fungus, Tietze Publications, p. 7.
4. ^ Siobhan Roth, Kombucha fermenting a revolution in health drinks, Pittsburg Post-Gazette June 07, 2007.
5. ^ Basil Hall Chamberlain, 1919, The Kojiki: Records of Ancient Mattters, The Asiatic Society of Japan, p. 367. Chamberlain transcribes the doctor’s full name as “Komu-ha-chimu-kamu-ki-mu” 金波鎮漢紀武, and notes “that 金 is the surname, 波鎮 an official title, 漢紀 an official designation of the kinsmen of the Korean King, and 武 the personal name.”
6. ^ >{{cite news | first=Brad | last=Stone | coauthors= | title=FDA CAUTIONS CONSUMERS ON “KOMBUCHA MUSHROOM TEA” | date=1995-03-23 | publisher=Food and Drug Administration |
7. ^ Aleksandra, Velicanski (2007). “Antimicrobial And Antioxidant Activity Of Lemon Balm Kombucha“. Acta periodica technologica: 165. doi:10.2298/APT0738165V.
8. ^ Acute effects of alcohol administration on regional cerebral blood flow: the role of acetate. Alcohol, Clinical Experimental Research. 1993. pp. 1119–23.. PMID 8116820. “These findings suggest that both acetate and alcohol contribute to the changes in CBF seen in the intoxication syndrome and that their relative influence is age-dependent.”.
9. ^ Subacute（90Days） Oral Toxicity Studies of Kombucha Tea 生物医学与环境科学：英文版－作者:R.VIJAYARAGHAVAN MANINDERSINGH 等
10. ^ Kombucha – Healthy Elixer Or Not?
11. ^ Kombucha: a systematic review of the clinical evidence
12. ^ Sunghee Kole, A; HD Jones, R Christensen, et al. (May-June 2009). “A case of Kombucha tea toxicity“. Journal of Intensive Care Medicine 24 (3): 205-207.
13. ^ Srinivasan MD, Radhika; Susan Smolinske, PharmD & David Greenbaum MD (October 1997). “Probable Gastrointestinal Toxicity of Kombucha Tea Is This Beverage Healthy or Harmful?“. Journal of General Internal Medicine 12 (10): 643–645. doi:10.1046/j.1525-1497.1997.07127.x.
14. ^ Kombucha “Mushroom” Hepatotoxicity
15. ^ Roussin, Michael R.. “About the Kombucha Consumer Research Group“. Kombucha-Research.com.
16. ^ Walaszek, Z. (1990-10-08). “Potential use of D-glucaric acid derivatives in cancer prevention“. Cancer Letters (Elsevier Science Ireland) 54 (1-2): 1–8. doi:10.1016/0304-3835(90)90083-A. PMID 2208084.
17. ^ Involvement of ß-Glucuronidase in Intestinal Microflora in the Intestinal Toxicity of the Antitumor Camptothecin Derivative Irinotecan Hydrochloride (CPT-11) in Rats
18. ^ Phan, Tri Giang; Jane Estell, Geoffrey Duggin, Ian Beer, Diane Smith and Mark J Ferson (1998). “Lead poisoning from drinking Kombucha tea brewed in a ceramic pot“. The Medical Journal of Australia (Australasian Medical Publishing Company) (169): 644–646.
19. ^ MAYSER P. (1) ; FROMME S. ; LEITZMANN C. ; GRÜNDER K. (1998). “The yeast spectrum of Kombucha“. Blackwell, Berlin, ALLEMAGNE.
20. ^ How to make your own Kombucha Tea
21. ^ Nirinjan Singh (2005). “Ph Levels For Kombucha Tea Beverage“.
22. ^ a convenience link to Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
* Tietze, Harald W.: Kombucha – The Miracle Fungus. Gateway Books. ISBN 1-85860-029-4.
* Dipti, et al. Lead induced oxidative stress: beneficial effects of Kombucha tea. Biomed Environ Sci. 2003 Sep;16(3):276-82.
* Ernst, et al. Kombucha: a systematic review of the clinical evidence. Forsch Komplementarmed Klass Naturheilkd / Research in Complementary and Classical Natural Medicine 2003;10:85-87.
* Pauline, et al. Studies on toxicity, anti-stress and hepato-protective properties of Kombucha tea. Biomed Environ Sci. 2001 Sep;14(3):207-13.
* Teoh, et al. Yeast ecology of Kombucha fermentation. Int J Food Microbiol. 2004 Sep 1;95(2):119-26.
* Frank, Günther W.: Kombucha – Healthy beverage and natural remedy from the Far East. Its correct preparation and use, Ennsthaler Gesellschaft GmbH & Co KG: 1995, ISBN 978-3850683371
* System of A Down: Sugar
A small yet potent architectural firm whose principals happen to be close friends and occasional business partners of mine, recently completed construction of a very green, very LEED residential townhouse project just down the way in the Boerum Hill section of Brooklyn (full article and interview is forthcoming). The project began in 2006, weathered the nightmare market, ran up against DOB blockades thrown up by officials whom had no idea what evacuated tube solar hot water systems meant, and only in the past weeks has the developer been able to show off his dream to potential buyers.
As expressed so eloquently and succinctly by the author of this article, Shari Shapiro, Attorney and LEED AP, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission only just recently by way of what appears to be logical deduction and something that actually resembles reason concluded that companies might actually be encouraged to invest in green technologies as climate risk has been equated to a risk to shareholders. The correlation between what the SEC has done and what my friends at Cycle Architects are doing is that with perseverance, good work, determination, and knowing what’s just, eventually, dreams do come true.
The other problem with synthetic, petroleum-based foam mattresses is the issue of “off-gassing.” The scent, or VOC, produced when a mattress is taken out of its package may contain toxic vapors like acetone and toluene that can lead to serious irritation of the eyes and mucus membranes and can accumulate in the body, never to be expelled.![[Post to Twitter]](/wp-content/plugins/tweet-this/icons/tt-twitter.png){kind=icon}
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