How to Make Kombucha

By court15smith

Ingredients

• 1 kombucha scoby – Get this from a friend
• 1 cup per gallon of reserved kombucha from a previous batch (or liquid that came with your scoby)
• 1 cup organic white sugar
• 5-10 organic black tea
• filtered water (don’t use tap water!)
• Supplies for Making Kombucha***
• 1 gallon glass or ceramic container, or larger. No lid necessary (do not use metal or plastic).
• 1 clean tea towel
• 1 large rubber band
• a funnel
• a pitcher or a spouted bowl
• glass storage jars or bottles with tight fitting lids

Details

Servings 1
Adapted from holisticsquid.com

Preparation

Step 1

Make your tea in the ratio of 1 cup of organic white sugar for each gallon of black tea. I use a two gallon glass cookie jar (like this one) and organic 20 black tea bags. You may need to adjust the amount of tea depending on the brand or variety you choose.

Add boiling filtered water to fill your container half way. Allow the tea to seep for 5-10 minutes until brewed darkly.

Add cool filtered water so that your container is about 85% full.

When the sweetened tea is cooled to body temperature, add your scoby.

Don’t forget to add the accompanying reserve liquid.

Cover with a tea towel, and mark your jar with today’s date. Store your brewing kombucha in a warm dark place away from other fermenting foods or potential mold. Starting around 14 days, begin tasting your kombucha. It should be tart and zingy, slightly sweet, but not cloying. In the winter you may need to brew your kombucha for much longer that 2 weeks. Try placing it near your (working) slow cooker, or near a warm appliance. You can also purchase mats (like these Seedling Heat Mats) to keep your kombucha comfortably warm and reduce brewing time.

When your kombucha is ready, with clean hands, remove the scoby gently from the newly brewed kombucha and place in a separate bowl.

Reserve approximately 1 cup of kombucha per gallon and add it to the scoby in its bowl.

Your next task is pouring the kombucha into bottles for storage. For this, I like to first transfer my liquid goodness into a spouted bowl to make the pouring easier.

Find a good combination of spouts and funnels to pour the kombucha as neatly as possible

Store your kombucha in glass bottles with tight fitting lids. I got these wire-held stopper bottles at Ikea, and the two at the far end have tight screw on tops (I don’t remember where I got them). For extra fizz, allow the sealed bottles to sit at room temperature for 24 hours until refrigerating. If you would like to flavor your ‘bucha, now’s the time. Experiment with filling 1/8 of your bottle with a fresh squeeze juice, or add a teaspoon of almond or vanilla extract. (Note: Adding flavoring during the first brew will increase the likelihood of mold or contamination of your scoby).

When your bottles are filled, it’s time to begin the process again so you will never be without your ‘bucha.