Description

A simple guide to brewing your own kombucha.

Ingredients

Scale

1 gallon of clean water (preferably not straight from your tap)
1 cup organic white sugar
8 organic caffeinated tea bags (I recommend an organic Earl Grey)
1/2 cup kombucha (optional*)
1 SCOBY (get one online, at your local health food store or from a health loving friend!)

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Instructions

Fill your gallon jug with water and then pour that into your pot. (This is an easy way to measure the volume you need.)
Bring water to a boil and remove from heat. Add sugar and tea. Stir and allow to steep with the lid off. You want your water to cool to room temperature.
Once water has cooled to where you can stick your finger in and it’s neither too hot nor too cold, transfer it to your clean gallon jar. Stir in the 1/2 cup of kombucha*. Use your wooden spoon to add your SCOBY.
Cover with cheesecloth and secure with a rubber band. Keep in a slightly warm spot, like beside your oven or on top of your fridge. By the window in the winter would be a bad idea as the cooler the area, the longer it will take to ferment.
Be patient. Let sit for 2-4 weeks. Start tasting it after two weeks and then every few days until it’s to your desired taste.
*If you don’t have a 1/2 cup of kombucha, it’s okay. This simply acts as a starter. It just might mean your kombucha will take a little longer to ferment.

Notes

I personally like to leave my kombucha for about four weeks. I want that sugar digested fully by the SCOBY so my brews are fairly strong and not that sweet. Usually 1/4 cup is all I can sip on at one time. This is truly healing kombucha.
If you like your kombucha sweeter, that’s cool too. Just know that when you’re buying the storebought kind, if it tastes super sweet, that’s because it is. I’d recommend fermenting until it’s no longer sweet and than sweetening as you like, for example, by squeezing in a little fresh orange or blueberry juice.

Additional Notes
You can add flavoured tea bags to your brew by using 4-6 black tea bags and then adding, say, 2-4 peppermint or ginger tea bags.

It’s best to keep your SCOBY away from direct contact with metal. I don’t know why, but I remember someone telling me this.

It’s best to use a plain organic white sugar. It’s the sugar the SCOBY wants, so adding a whole coconut sugar or sucanut can interfere with the process. Once you’ve done it a few times with organic sugar, I invite you to play with other sweeteners. Let me know how it goes!

Category: Beverage