Lifeway Kefir

I received a chance, thanks to Influenster, to try the Chocolate Truffle, Raspberry, and Vanilla flavors of the Lifeway Kefir drinks. The kefir itself has a strong tang to it, like a greek yogurt flavor. It is milk shake thick, pourable but still thick in consistency. It's not unpleasant, but it's almost like drinking yogurt.

You can find the Lifeway Kefir website HERE. You can also find a $1.00 off coupon when you buy 2 lifeway products. The definition of Kefir on the website is "Kefir is a cultured probiotic beverage similar in taste and texture to drinkable yogurt, and made from milk fermented with kefir cultures. Originating over 2000 years ago in the Caucasus Mountains-where many people live well over 100 years-kefir has been associated with a long list of health benefits."  I think that sounds actually pretty gross. Fermented milk product. It took a little bit to get over that description so that I could bring myself to try it. I still try not to think about it while I'm drinking it.

This is what they have to say about it on the site, "A fermented milk product, Lifeway Kefir is similar to drinkable yogurt but far more probiotic. While yogurt contains only two to three strains of “live and active” cultures, Lifeway is packed with a unique blend of 12 probiotic cultures."

It boasts that it may help stimulate digestion, lose weight, enhance immune system, alleviate lactose intolerance, IBS, Crohn's, and colitis.
In addition to all of this some of the bottles also say they are 99% lactose free and gluten free which is nice for those people with allergies or special diets. I try to stay away from certain dairy products to keep my skin clear so I appreciated the lactose free part of it.

 I tried the chocolate truffle first, being the chocolate fan that I am. It was sour, bitter, and not a single hint of chocolate flavor. I poured a little out and shook it like there was no tomorrow, thinking that maybe there were some chocolate bits on the bottom that didn't get completely mixed up. I ended up with a whisper of chocolate but it was still full of bitterness, it just wasn't very good. The more I thought about it the less appealing chocolate yogurt flavor seemed, although this isn't yogurt it just tastes like greek yogurt.

The Raspberry was delicious! The Kefir has a strong greek yogurt flavor (although it isn't yogurt) so fruit flavors work really nicely with it. It had a tang with a nice raspberry sweetness behind it. It's a lovely flavor to drink straight in a glass with no add ins. It was sweet but not too sweet, no hint of sourness at all which was lovely after the chocolate truffle flavor.

The Vanilla was perfectly fine. It wasn't amazing or super delicious like the raspberry, but it wasn't disgusting like the chocolate. It had less tang/sourness then the other flavors and more sweetness from the vanilla. It had a strong vanilla flavor, unlike the raspberry and chocolate who's flavor was a background note, vanilla was the prominent flavor here. I enjoyed how versatile this was, I put it in my morning smoothie in place of almond milk, which resulted in a creamier slightly thicker smoothie, and it was fantastic to pour into a bowl of granola in place of almond milk.

YUM! You could use Vanilla or Raspberry this way, depending on your taste, I like the taste of my granola so I prefer vanilla.

I would be very willing to try more fruit flavors from lifeway and will keep an eye out for the frozen kefir which I so desperately wanted to try. My local grocery store only stocked the drinks, much to my dismay. I loved the vanilla flavor in my granola and if I want a creamier morning smoothie, I know where to go. 

*I received 1 Lifeway Kefir product free and 2 discounted Lifeway Kefir bottles complements of Influenster for testing purposes. These are my true and honest opinions, I do not get paid to give good reviews. *


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