Powerful probiotic showdown: switchel vs kombucha

Looking for an alternative to sugary soft drinks or your cheeky glass of wine? Want something that doesn’t just taste hella AH-ma-zing, but also brings some impressive health benefits and nutrition to your life?

Well, innnnn the red corner with a big bold kick (of flavour) we have switchel. 

Annnnnd over in the blue corner, we have the sweet-yet sour kombucha.

Find out how these contenders stack up (aka the BIG round: switchel vs kombucha) when it comes to being ridiculously refreshing, tasty as heck and packed with probiotics. 

What is switchel?

Switchel is a seriously energising, bubbly beverage with a big, bold kick of flavour that comes from apple cider vinegar, fresh ginger and maple syrup.

How it’s made

Traditional switchel comes with a truckload of sugar, thanks to the maple syrup. So at Nexba, we’ve made some improvements on the age-old recipe.

We start by fermenting the ginger until it’s probiotic-packed and culture-filled (a bit like a kombucha SCOBY, see below!)

We then blend the cultured ginger with Australian apple cider vinegar and water, and leave it all to do its thing for a further 25 days.

Finally, we add our top-secret natural sweetener blend, along with extra electrolytes to give the switchel its sweetness and added hydration.

This unique brewing method is the first of its kind in Australia, and it gives Nexba Switchel the yummiest flavour and the biggest, best probiotic profile. 

In fact, our Switchel comes with 500 million extra live smart, robust probiotics. How smart? Smart enough to make it all the way from your taste buds to your tummy intact, so they can bring you all the amazing health benefits we’ll talk about below!

Switchel origins

No one really knows for sure where the original switchel recipe came from, but those in the know say it all started in the West Indies. It was known back then as ‘ginger-water’, although the original recipe used molasses, instead of maple syrup.

Switchel showed up again as ‘haymaker’s punch’,  helping thirsty early American farmers to get through the hot summer days.

And it wasn’t just popular as a tasty alternative to the alcoholic punch of the time. Both ginger and apple cider vinegar are naturally high in potassium and electrolytes, which meant the farmers drinking haymaker’s punch could re-hydrate at record speed.

Who would’ve guessed that decades before anyone even knew what an electrolyte was, someone could invent a completely natural way to replenish them?

Switchel benefits

Switchel is a great way to naturally replenish electrolytes and probiotics in your body. And the ginger, probiotics and potassium offer a whole host of other benefits too, including:

• reduced inflammation 
• decreased muscle pain after intense physical exercise
• better gut health
• boosted immunity
• lowered cholesterol
• reduced eczema symptoms
• improved blood pressure and cardiovascular health (aka good for your heart)
• boosted muscle recovery and function
• better bone health

What is kombucha?

Slightly sweet but also satisfyingly sour, kombucha is a fizzy little number that tastes like champagne and apple cider had a love child (just without the alcoholic hit).

How’s it made?

Kombucha is made by fermenting tea and sugar with live cultures. Those live cultures are what’s known in the biz as a SCOBY (Symbiotic Culture Of Bacteria and Yeasts). 

While the bowl of sweet tea ferments, the SCOBY digests all the sugar and caffeine. At the same time, it produces health-giving organic acids, amino acids, vitamins (in particular Vitamin B and Vitamin C), minerals and enzymes.

Plus, perhaps best of all, the final product is full of happy gut buddies in the form of super-powerful probiotic microorganisms.

Like Nexba Switchel, Nexba Kombucha gets its sweetness from our naturally sugar free blend, and it also comes with 500 million extra live, smart, robust probiotics.

Kombucha origins

It’s generally thought that kombucha originated in the Far East, probably in China. Some people reckon kombucha has been a drink of choice there for over 2,000 years! Which makes sense, given that is where tea originally came from.

Then, in the 1960s, legend Dr Rudolph Skelnar created renewed interest in kombucha when he started using it to treat his patients. Just some of the conditions he used it to help with included cancer, metabolic disorders, high blood pressure and diabetes!

Kombucha benefits

We reckon Dr Skelnar was onto something back in the ‘60s, because recent research suggests that kombucha could indeed have a positive impact on:

• gut health
• immunity
• cholesterol
• eczema symptoms
• playing a protective role against cancer (early research on rats is promising, but human studies are needed!)

Plus, the oolong tea used to make kombucha adds the extra benefits of:

• reducing blood sugar levels
• reducing the risk of developing Type 2 Diabetes

Switchel vs kombucha – gimme the low down

Here, we made it easy for you. All the differences between switchel and kombucha in one neat table. You’re welcome!

What if we said you don’t have to make a choice? You could have both!

Nexba Switchel and Nexba Kombucha are both incredible health-giving drinks, and they’re both available to buy today.

PLUS if you’re looking for a little something extra, check out how to use switchel and kombucha in incredible recipes including breakfast bowls, smoothies and incredible mocktails and cocktails.