Kombucha

I never thought I'd be so willing to drink something that is the product of asexual fungal reproduction.  However, kombucha is just that.  If you've never had it, you really need to suspend all of your inhibitions about strange foods and fungi, and just go for it because if you go about it correctly, it can be really good.  However, if you don't know what you're doing, it probably going to come out bad and possibly dangerous.
I first tried kombucha in 2008 and I was just running the most basic recipe- 15 black tea bags and a 1 1/2 cups of sugar.  Boil the tea, add the sugar, let the whole thing cool, put it in a jar, throw in your kombucha baby, and let it sit for two weeks.  During that time the kombucha alien will replicate and try to eat your pets.  We lost three cats without even thinking about it.  They were missed.  I don't want to put a picture of the kombucha alien because it could be considered both horrible and pornographic depending on your religious persuasion and whether you had any cheese today.  But this is what the jar looks like.  On this day, I used Formosa Oolong tea w/ ginger that I got from the Homegrown Tea Shop on Congress St. on Portland's East End.  I try to put the date on there so I remember when I put it on the shelf.  Another important thing is to not expose the kombucha baby to metal.  I cover the jar with cloth and a rubber band.  This makes it seem more like a science experiment.  After two weeks, the kombucha fungus replicates.  That means that after two weeks you can make two batches.  Or you can make one batch and give one baby away.  You see, kombucha is about health and friendship and what says healthy friendship like giving your friends a self-replicating fungus? 
I have also been making modifications.  I have so much kombucha in my refrigerator that I can afford to try new things- I like to live on the edge.  I currently am varying the level of sugar and seeing if honey is as effective as white sugar.   The sugar is what makes this drink ferment.  I've found that the more fermented it is, the better the kombucha tastes.  I also like the having ginger tea.  It makes it that much more delicious.  Also, I know what you're thinking, 'Why would I want to drink some cheap, fermented fungal vinegar when all I drink is beer?'  Let me tell you, I drink plenty of beer, but I drink kombucha in the morning.  You see, kombucha is good for the LIVER.  That means that it actually compliments all the beer.  But don't take my word for it, find someone with a kombucha operation and get a baby.  They probably have more babies than they know what to do with, and they ain't getting any state money for them in any case. 
The other thing:  Just in case you think I've made this all up- they do sell this stuff commercially.  I find it in the grocery store, my favorite is ginger and asian pear.  Good luck with the fungus.