Kombucha is a type of natural fermented tea that has a lot of health benefits. It's tasty, trendy, and can quickly become an expensive habit if you're purchasing store-bought bottled kombucha every day, so why not try your hand at brewing your own? The process may sound intimidating at first, but with only a few ingredients you can easily make it right on your own countertop, and once you get it going it needs little to no maintenance at all. After you make your first batch, kombucha is the gift that just keeps giving and your SCOBY will basically last you forever, constantly growing and nourishing your brews into probiotic-rich and quenching nourishment for your body and soul. Read on to learn the easy steps to fermenting and brewing your own booch at home!
*Supplemental "virtual workshop" video is also available to compliment this blog post on Facebook. This is the shortened condensed version, but please see video for more details and information about kombucha brewing at home! :)
Material check list:
1. a gallon sized glass jar, without a lid
2. 1-2 tea bags, any variety can be used but I recommend starting with a basic black tea at first
3. 1 cup of granulated sugar, organic fair-trade is recommended
4. SCOBY/mother/kombucha starter (get from a friend that already brews, or buy a kombucha kit)
5. round coffee filter and a rubber band
6. hot water
Instructions:
1. Clean your glass jar thoroughly. Add 1 cup of sugar to the jar with some hot water, just enough to dissolve the sugar. Stir it around if needed to help with the dissolving process. Let mixture sit so it can fully dissolve and then cool.
2. Steep your tea bag(s) in a separate small cup or mug with hot water for about 20-30 minutes, like you're making yourself a strong cup of tea.
3. Once tea is steeped, remove bag(s) and add to sugar in the large jar. Let your sweetened tea mixture cool til it's at room temperature, or add some ice cubes to speed up the process. Tea should be room temperature or colder.
4. Add SCOBY or starter to your tea. Avoid adding to hot water or the beneficial bacteria needed to brew your kombucha in the starter will die.
5. Fill jar with filtered water all the way to the top at the jar's WIDEST part. You want a nice wide area for your new SCOBY to grow on the surface of the water (not at a thinner neck of the jar, but just below it).
6. Cover with a coffee filter and rubber band. Alternatively you can use a CLEAN cheesecloth or towel (must be very clean and contain no bacteria on it that may affect the composition of your kombucha). I like to write the date on the coffee filter so I can keep track of how long it's been brewing (it's easier than you think to lose track of time!)
7. Place in a safe countertop spot out of direct sunlight and leave it alone for 2 weeks. Your SCOBY will grow into a more massive, slimy, alien-like monster and the liquid will become a probiotic-rich vinegary drink during this time.
8. Taste test. It should taste like vinegary tea. If it's not strong enough leave it for another week or two. Leaving it too long (I'm often guilty of this) it will turn into vinegar! Not bad, if you're looking to make your own vinegar or if you like an extra strong drink (no worries, the vinegar has plenty of probiotics and health benefits too, and you can always thin it out with water to your liking!). Once it tastes to your liking, you can bottle it up, store in the fridge, and enjoy it as is, or you can continue on to the second optional step where we will flavor and carbonate the kombucha.
9. * Second optional step * adding flavors and carbonation in a second brewing step! This step is for those that want to get creative with flavoring the booch, or maybe the plain tea after the first process just isn't exciting enough for you. If you love carbonated drinks, you'll definitely want to go ahead and try this next step. Add your kombucha to several jars or glass bottles with a sealing lid along with fruit juice, herbs, or spices to your liking. For my most recent batch, I added fresh watermelon juice, about 1/3 cup to a quart or so of freshly made kombucha. Other ideas I've done include fresh ground ginger with a little sugar or agave for a ginger kombucha, some fresh blended blueberries with maple syrup for "blueberry cobbler" flavor, or even just some coconut water for a coconut brew. You want ingredients with either natural or added sugars for the bacteria to feed on. Leave some space in the container since pressure WILL build up from carbonation. Add a lid with a gasket or seal, and let it it sit for a few days, start checking its progress on day 2. Bubbles will begin to appear from the carbonation and gasses will form in the airspace. Be VERY careful when opening as pressure will build and it can be dangerous, keep it away from your face! Try it and see how it tastes. It should be carbonated like soda and have more flavor to it than it originally did after the first fermentation process.
10. Once your booch is to your liking, whether you decided to add carbonation and flavoring or not, store in a pitcher or bottles or jars in the fridge until you're ready to drink it. It should keep for several months. Take your original SCOBY and any growth it's made from the first fermentation and repeat the whole process over again. Once your SCOBY grows you can divide it into pieces and have several jars brewing at once. You can share some SCOBY with friends and teach them too, to share the love of kombucha to everyone!
Let me know if you've tried brewing your own and how it came out! Feel free to comment below or connect up with me if you have any questions at all.
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