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Basic Kombucha Recipe

Ingredients

  • 3 cups filtered water
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 3 bags or 1 Tablespoon loose black tea
  • 3 bags or 1 Tablespoon loose green tea
  • 1 SCOBY
  • 1 ½ cups starter a.k.a. finished kombucha
  • Additional filtered water

Instructions

Making Kombucha

  • Pour the 3 cups of water into a pan.
  • Stir in the sugar and tea.
  • Cover and bring the mixture to a boil over high heat.
  • Remove the pan from the heat and set it aside for 15 minutes.
  • Meanwhile, fill the glass gallon jar half way with filtered water. Place a mason jar funnel (optional but very handy) with a small screen sieve over it on the glass jar (pictured ).
  • When the tea is done steeping, pour it in to the sieve and funnel it in to the glass jar. You should now have a lukewarm mixture, which is very important because too much heat will kill the SCOBY and starter. If you believe your mixture is too warm, it's best to let it sit until room temperature.
  • Now add the starter (or finished kombucha) and mix well.
  • Add more filtered water until you have about 1-inch of head space.
  • Taste it and make mental note; it should taste pretty much like sweet tea. Now cover it with a coffee filter (or any breathable cloth or paper towel) secured with a rubber band to keep the critters out.

Fermenting Kombucha

  • Allow it to sit at room temperature for about a week. (If it's warm in your home, it will be ready sooner. If it's cold in your home, it might take a little longer. Also, if the SCOBY is just starting off, it might take a little longer. My home is generally around 65* right now and I make more kombucha every week, no-fail. When I first got this particular SCOBY going, however, it took about 10-11 days. In the summer I will probably have to switch to every 6 days or keep it at 7 but have a less-sweet drink. Your home environment is different from mine; I'm just sharing this to help you see that it can vary.)
  • If you are new to making kombucha, it might help to taste it every day just so you can get an idea of how the sugar really is being consumed by the SCOBY, but this is not necessary. You will however need to taste it when you think it's ready to bottle for the second part of the fermentation process where carbonation is built up.
  • When you think your kombucha is ready, give it a gentle stir and taste it. You are looking for a little bit more than a hint of sweetness, but not even close to as sweet as it was when you first began. More sugar will be consumed during the second fermentation process, so that is why I say “a little bit more than a hint of sweetness”.

Flavoring Kombucha

  • Take about a cup of your finished kombucha and blend it with a cup or so of fruit. Bottle the remaining kombucha but do not fill it up all the way. Split the blended strawberry mixture among the bottles. If you add the strawberry mixture first, it will fizz a lot and take a long time waiting for the fizz to go down in order to fill the bottles!! So, it's best to leave room at the top instead.

Bottling Kombucha

  • Remove the SCOBY and place it in a bowl.
  • Stir the kombucha and pour out 1 1/2 cups. This is your starter and SCOBY for the next batch. Simply repeat the process above.
  • Funnel the remaining kombucha into the glass bottles, leaving as little head space as possible. You may put a sieve over the funnel to catch any bits, however the bits are safe to drink.
  • Cap the bottles securely and set aside for a few days up to a week before storing in the refrigerator. This “second fermentation” process eats up more of the sugars and in return builds up more CO2. Being in an air-tight environment, the CO2 cannot escape … and now you have fizzy kombucha!