This is clearly imported from the Neath

Fungal Tea

Yuck

I could see a health craze like that happening on the surface…

[quote=Taciturn Masseur]Fungal Tea[/quote]The &quotartisanal brewed&quot ones are good, especially if you don’t believe those &quotnatural medicine&quot or &quot we must preserve our culture!&quot tosh.
Plus, you get to look all cultured (;)) while confusing all your friend when your religion doesn’t allow imbibing.

Ha, in fact I drank this tea a lot and never before thought about its connection to FL. It was very popular in Russia and Kazakhstan at least ~10-15 years ago. It’s quite tasty and refreshing I must say! A bit sour and sweet at the same time and a little similar to kvass (I suspect it won’t say much to a lot of people but the taste is really peculiar).

Oh, чайный гриб! Never thought about it in connection to the Neath.

Don’t drink it, especially don’t try to make it at home. There’s no going back from the slow boat on the Surface.

Isn’t fungal tea just soup?

Yes, just like grandma used to make! It really does give a whole new perspective on Neath mushroom wines. If the tea can be this pleasant, then wine is possibly palatable too…
I’ve never tried the bottled stuff, only home-grown by ex-Soviet-space grandmothers. It was very nice - lightly sweet and tart and slightly effervescent.

It’s fermented sugared black tea. Traditionally, people pour leftover tea (without leaves) into a jar covered with gauze – so dust mostly stays out, but saliva and an assortment of bacteria go right in. And there’s a special fungus floating in the jar that does the fermenting; it grows in layers, and connoisseurs share said layers with unsuspecting friends, a social interaction somewhat akin to SMEN betrayal. When the liquid is sufficiently sour, people start drinking it (and keep pouring in more sugared tea).

I can only hope the industrial process is more sanitary than this, but you should not drink either.

It’s fermented sugared black tea. Traditionally, people pour leftover tea (without leaves) into a jar covered with gauze – so dust mostly stays out, but saliva and an assortment of bacteria go right in. And there’s a special fungus floating in the jar that does the fermenting; it grows in layers, and connoisseurs share said layers with unsuspecting friends, a social interaction somewhat akin to SMEN betrayal. When the liquid is sufficiently sour, people start drinking it (and keep pouring in more sugared tea).

I can only hope the industrial process is more sanitary than this, but you should not drink either.[/quote]

OK, this leftover thing is just disguisting. I can only note that the grandmothers I have seen followed a different tradition. One that involved clean dishes scalded with hot water and freshly made tea with no saliva (shudder) added.

Just defending my old granny. She’d turn in her grave at the merest suggestion that she might have ever considered anything that antisanitary. Other than that - it never hurts to follow the disclaimers.

I am pleased to report that kombucha is effervescent and delightful! Sure, a bad batch can kill you, but so can all food turned bad! Just toss it if it smells bad.

Neathier still (and reminiscent of the Uttershroom): a large scoby (Symbiotic Culture Of Bacteria and Yeast) is referred to as a “mother.”

You misspelled a word there. It’s zoup not soup.

Where I live, it is only a soup if it is savoury.
edited by Estelle Knoht on 9/4/2017

You misspelled a word there. It’s zoup not soup.[/quote]
Unless kombucha contains the tears of hanged men, I think it would just be soup.
edited by Optimatum on 9/4/2017

I like kombucha. It’s tangy and effervescent and slightly alcoholic.

Actually, in my encounter with it, the hosts referred to it as &quotmushroom kvas&quot, as opposed to &quotmushroom tea&quot. This slightly complicated the task of finding any info on it now that the connection occurred to me, so may years later.

Powdered shiitake mushrooms are available for use as a tea/broth base. Widely available in Japan, and apparently relatively easy to find online, I find it delicious. Various health claims are made for it, about which YMMMV, but I just enjoy it for the taste; it’s a useful ingredient in cooking, too. I hadn’t thought of its relation to FL until coming across this thread, however.