Yeah. I thought it was bullshit. This was in 2008. I’d been out for less than a year. And this chick I met at the gay club asked if I liked kombucha. I actually said,

What?

She swore that it was the best thing evar for a hangover. She was really emphatic. It’s like she woke up to a higher state of consciousness while she was describing its efficacy.

So I got a bottle and drank it in the morning on an empty stomach about a week later. The effect, a quickening of attention and increased inward awareness around the face, was noticeable. I was not the caffeine feeling. It was a stimulation that was not caffeine. And that’s all it took.