Making Kombucha

Ingredients needed to start making Kombucha

Once you have your SCOBY (symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast) made, it is time to start making kombucha. This is very simple. Here is what you need:

1 gallon water8 tea bags (You can use all black tea or, what I do is, use 5 black and 3 green tea bags. These need to be caffeinated and the majority needs to be black. Do not use herbal teas because they will not provide the nourishment that the SCOBY needs.)1 cup sugar2 cups starter tea (this is the tea you originally made for your SCOBY to grow in)1 SCOBY

You will also need a glass gallon container (you can use the one that your SCOBY is currently in).

· Bring the water to a boil

· Stir in your sugar and let it dissolve

· Turn off the heat and add your tea bags

· Steep for 40 minutes and then remove your tea bags

· Once your tea is room temperature, you can add this to your gallon glass container

· Cover your jar with cheesecloth or a breathable linen

Carefully add your starter tea, freshly brewed sweet tea, and SCOBY back into the glass jar

When you add your sweet tea to the jar, you want to make sure you aren’t pouring hard onto your SCOBY. You can either remove the SCOBY and set it aside in another glass jar until needed or very carefully pour the tea into the container being careful not to harm the SCOBY.

The sweet tea, starter tea and SCOBY now need to ferment together in the glass jar at room temperature for 7 to 14 days. This is a good time to write the date on the jar so that you can keep track of the days. The time frame will depend on the temperature in the house and how sweet or vinegary you want the kombucha to be. If the house is cold, place the jar on a heat mat so that it doesn’t get too cold and die. You also want to keep this jar in a place that doesn’t get too much light or you can wrap a dark colored towel around the jar.

Kombucha in the first fermenting stage

My kombucha usually tastes good at 10 days. I have gone several weeks before it was done but some of my family complained it was too sour for them. You will have to take some taste tests during this time and get it to how you like it.

Once the time is up, you can drink this straight (raw kombucha that is unflavored) or you can do a second fermenting that involves flavoring your kombucha and adding carbonation to it. Check back next week on how to do that!

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