My first exposure to kombucha was through my mom, who had found it at a healthfood store while she was visiting a friend. She came home raving about how delicious it was and what a great health drink. We found it again at some stores here and began buying it. But, as any kombucha fan knows, we didn't just buy one. We bought another. And another. And another. And so on, until we put a slot in our budget for them.
Just kidding, though they truly are expensive. Not a wallet-friendly habit to keep.
We told all our friends about it. Then a dear friend from church mentioned that she has been brewing it herself for years, and that she would give us what we needed to get started. She informed us on the entire process and gave us...
Five years later, we have the same SCOBY and have been enjoying the fruit of it. At first we all thought the SCOBY was the grossest thing we had ever seen and nobody wanted to be in charge of it. We took turns, but I ended up claiming it. I don't think it's gross now and I love making it.
Believe it or not, I'm continually tweaking the process of how I do it! I'll share with you what I do, and a variety of ways to make it.
Materials needed:
- a SCOBY (Symbiotic Colony of Bacteria and Yeast (can be purchased online or email me and I'll send you one)
- clean water (I've heard Reverse Osmosis is best, which is what I use)
- organic tea (green, black, oolong, or a combo of them)
- organic evaporated cane juice or regular sugar (more on this later)
- two glass containers
The process:
Using a medium sized pot, bring a gallon of water to boil. Turn off and remove from heat.
Stir in one cup of sugar and add 4-5 tea bags. Let steep for at least 15 minutes. Remove tea bags with clean tongs.
Put the lid of the pot of sweetened tea and let it cool overnight. It must be room temperature to continue. It will kill the SCOBY if it's too hot.
Be sure your glass container is clean and dry. Carefully pour the now room temperature tea into the container.
Optional: Add about one cup of store-bought or home-grown kombucha (not flavored).
Add the SCOBY, also called the culture (make sure your hands are clean!).
Cover the container with a cloth or unbleached coffee filter and secure with a rubber band.
Keep your container somewhere warm (around 70 degrees F), out of direct sunlight, and at least several feet from anything else you're culturing, like yogurt or kefir. I like to keep mine in the pantry, at the bottom shelf.
Brew 7 to 30 days. Like any fermented edible, the longer it sits, the more fermented and bubbly it will become (and much less sugar). Right now, my favorite is 21 days.
A new culture (also called the "baby") will form on top. This is perfectly normal and will happen every time.
When the kombucha is to your liking, Remove the culture. Remember to save some Kombucha for your next batch before adding fruit juice or ginger.
If
you choose to do the second fermentation, keep your kombucha (without SCOBY) in a glass
airtight container at room temperature for another 2 to 5 days. It doesn't have to hide in the pantry at this point. Open the lid once a day during this time so that the pressure doesn't build up too much.
When you open a kombucha that has done a second fermentation, I recommend caution in case it has lots of pressure built up. There will be very little sugar left in your Kombucha after this process is complete.
Refrigerate your kombucha after the second fermentation.
Important things to note:
Cleanliness is key here. Your SCOBY will mold and you will have to throw it away if any bad bacteria gets into it.
In Christ,
 | ||
| One of my new favorites--made right here in Houston! |
Just kidding, though they truly are expensive. Not a wallet-friendly habit to keep.
We told all our friends about it. Then a dear friend from church mentioned that she has been brewing it herself for years, and that she would give us what we needed to get started. She informed us on the entire process and gave us...
 |
| THE SCOBY! |
Five years later, we have the same SCOBY and have been enjoying the fruit of it. At first we all thought the SCOBY was the grossest thing we had ever seen and nobody wanted to be in charge of it. We took turns, but I ended up claiming it. I don't think it's gross now and I love making it.
Believe it or not, I'm continually tweaking the process of how I do it! I'll share with you what I do, and a variety of ways to make it.
Materials needed:
- a SCOBY (Symbiotic Colony of Bacteria and Yeast (can be purchased online or email me and I'll send you one)
- clean water (I've heard Reverse Osmosis is best, which is what I use)
- organic tea (green, black, oolong, or a combo of them)
- organic evaporated cane juice or regular sugar (more on this later)
- two glass containers
The process:
Using a medium sized pot, bring a gallon of water to boil. Turn off and remove from heat.
 |
| My favorite tea to use right now! |
Put the lid of the pot of sweetened tea and let it cool overnight. It must be room temperature to continue. It will kill the SCOBY if it's too hot.
Be sure your glass container is clean and dry. Carefully pour the now room temperature tea into the container.
Optional: Add about one cup of store-bought or home-grown kombucha (not flavored).
Add the SCOBY, also called the culture (make sure your hands are clean!).
Cover the container with a cloth or unbleached coffee filter and secure with a rubber band.
Keep your container somewhere warm (around 70 degrees F), out of direct sunlight, and at least several feet from anything else you're culturing, like yogurt or kefir. I like to keep mine in the pantry, at the bottom shelf.
Brew 7 to 30 days. Like any fermented edible, the longer it sits, the more fermented and bubbly it will become (and much less sugar). Right now, my favorite is 21 days.
A new culture (also called the "baby") will form on top. This is perfectly normal and will happen every time.
At this point you can pour it into an airtight containers(s) of your choice, put it in your refrigerator and begin drinking it, or do a second fermentation.
Even though the culture is removed, the natural bacteria and yeast will
continue to eat the sugar and create gas in an airtight container. This
gives kombucha a soda-like fizz.
Refrigerate your kombucha after the second fermentation.
Important things to note:
Cleanliness is key here. Your SCOBY will mold and you will have to throw it away if any bad bacteria gets into it.
Brown wispy yeast tails are normal. They are a byproduct of the fermentation. If you ever seen green mold, you must throw it all out and get a new SCOBY.
Every few batches the SCOBY will "have a baby," which can be used as compost, trash, or given to a friend.
Organic sugar. This can be a bit tricky. We do buy it, and most of the time I use it, but it also gets expensive. It is unbleached, unlike regular white sugar. I recognize the importance of using it since it's what the SCOBY eats, but I can't always afford it. Especially considering how much kombucha we drink. So, make your choice.
DO NOT use any metal utensils when handling the kombucha or SCOBY! This will also kill it. It's okay to use a metal pot to boil the tea, but don't use metal tongs or spoons or strainers for the actual kombucha.
Continuous Brewing Method: Once you have fermented the kombucha to your preferred level, all you have to do is replace that which you drink with fresh sugar/tea mix. Adding new sugar and tea may be done each day, every other day, or the third day. An advantage to The Continuous Brewing Method is the optimum health benefit of all the nutrients are readily availabe. No need to remove the SCOBY, no need to transfer from jar to jar, and mold is far less likely to form since you are simply maintaining a consistent established ferment.
Organic sugar. This can be a bit tricky. We do buy it, and most of the time I use it, but it also gets expensive. It is unbleached, unlike regular white sugar. I recognize the importance of using it since it's what the SCOBY eats, but I can't always afford it. Especially considering how much kombucha we drink. So, make your choice.
DO NOT use any metal utensils when handling the kombucha or SCOBY! This will also kill it. It's okay to use a metal pot to boil the tea, but don't use metal tongs or spoons or strainers for the actual kombucha.
Continuous Brewing Method: Once you have fermented the kombucha to your preferred level, all you have to do is replace that which you drink with fresh sugar/tea mix. Adding new sugar and tea may be done each day, every other day, or the third day. An advantage to The Continuous Brewing Method is the optimum health benefit of all the nutrients are readily availabe. No need to remove the SCOBY, no need to transfer from jar to jar, and mold is far less likely to form since you are simply maintaining a consistent established ferment.
That's it! I hope you get started on it someday. It's not hard, and the probiotic benefits are amazing.
In Christ,
~Micaela
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