How to make kombucha starting with making a SCOBY

SCOBY - symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast

Kombucha is a fermented sweet tea that becomes a carbonated probiotic drink, if done right. It is a straight forward and very easy drink to make once you have established a SCOBY (symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast). So, let’s start with making a SCOBY and go from there.

You will need: 1 cup water 1 tea bag of black tea 3 tbsp. sugar 2 cups of purchased plain/raw kombucha with live cultures. I’ve used GT’s raw kombucha for this.

You will also need a glass container that will hold at least a gallon of kombucha.

Bring your water to a boil and combine it with the tea bag. Steep this for 40 minutes. You want a strong tea. Remove the tea bag and stir in the sugar. Make sure the sugar gets dissolved.

Pour the sweet tea into your glass jar. I use the big gallon glass containers that you can serve drinks from. Cover the jar opening with a cheesecloth or linen towel and secure it in place with a large rubber band. You want the tea to be able to breathe without getting fruit flies inside it.

Jar of SCOBYs waiting for the starter tea to be added in

Let it ferment at room temperature until a gelatinous-looking mass forms at the top of the jar, anywhere between 2 to 4 weeks. If you are doing this in the winter or the room is cold, place the jar on a heat mat so that it ferments and doesn’t get too cold and die.

The SCOBY for your Kombucha is growing

You may see bubbles and tendrils attached to the sides and bottom of the SCOBY. These are good.

When the SCOBY is about one-half (1/2) inch thick, it can be used for kombucha immediately or stored in a SCOBY hotel (more on that later). Making a SCOBY is easy.

Please check back next week for the continuation of making kombucha.

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