We started making kombucha a few months ago. It's a fermented sweet tea beverage - you take sweet tea & add a culture called a scoby (or kombucha "mushroom"). After two weeks, the scoby has turned all the sugar into beneficial nutrients & added beneficial bacteria & yeasts (not the bad ones that take over your body & cause health problems), leaving you with a bubbly, tangy drink. Normally you get a scoby from a friend, but I didn't have one, so I grew my own from a bottle of storebought kombucha (at $3.99/bottle, it was easy to decide to make my own, esp. considering it's no-brainer easy!). Now I have kombucha in my home and should never run out or have to buy it again!
So here's what I did, for anyone who wants to try it:
Every time you make kombucha you get a new ("baby") scoby. I have lots of babies if anyone nearby needs one!
Information on the nutritional & probiotic content: http://www.happyherbalist.com/analysis_o
Articles about the history and health benefits of kombucha: http://www.kombu.de/english.htm
Excerpts from scientific analyses of kombucha: http://www.kombucha-america.com/page4.sh
If you've never had it, start w/ a 1/4 cup or so, and drink a little more each day. It's not a guzzling drink, more like a sipping one. I drink about a cup a day. If you're pregnant & are not already drinking it, don't start just yet. :)
- Bought a bottle of GT's kombucha. Drank half. Put the rest in a glass on the counter.
- Let it sit 3 weeks. Covered with a towel (that doesn't touch the liquid). Room temp. I understand many people get a scoby w/i a week doing this. I think I had one after a week, but it was so thin and translucent I didn't see it. At 3 weeks, it was good and sturdy and thick. It looks like a thin, slimy pancake. I found it needs to be dark, so I keep a towel over the whole jar.
- Made sweet tea (I used Nourishing Traditions' recipe: 3 quarts water, 4 bags organic tea, 1 cup organic sugar (Florida Crystals)). Let it cool in a gallon glass jar. (must be black or green tea; no herbals)
- Gently added the scoby & 1/2C of the kombucha I started with.
- Let it sit 3 weeks. Dark place. I think people brew their Kombucha Tea 7-30 days. At 68 degrees, I found that it took 3 full weeks to quit tasting like sweet tea & get to the wonderful flavor of the storebought drink. At 78 degrees, it's taking more like 2 weeks.
- Bottle and refrigerate - drink up! I use old juice jars (glass! kombucha's acidity should not be in a metal or plastic container). Some people reuse beer bottles w/ lids from a brewing store.
- Optional - Add diced ginger. Put lid on and leave in the same brewing place for 2-3 more days. This secondary fermentation will intensify the flavor & natural carbonation, while infusing it with a perfectly complementary ginger flavor. I've tried ginger w/ orange peel & ginger-blueberry, too, but I like plain ginger the best.
Every time you make kombucha you get a new ("baby") scoby. I have lots of babies if anyone nearby needs one!
Information on the nutritional & probiotic content: http://www.happyherbalist.com/analysis_o
Articles about the history and health benefits of kombucha: http://www.kombu.de/english.htm
Excerpts from scientific analyses of kombucha: http://www.kombucha-america.com/page4.sh
If you've never had it, start w/ a 1/4 cup or so, and drink a little more each day. It's not a guzzling drink, more like a sipping one. I drink about a cup a day. If you're pregnant & are not already drinking it, don't start just yet. :)
- mood:
happy
AMDG
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Page Summary
- (Anonymous) : Kowabunga - Kombucha! [+2]
- (Anonymous) : doing it too. [+0]
- (Anonymous) : (no subject) [+0]
- (Anonymous) : Scoby [+1]
- (Anonymous) : Where to buy a kombucha mushroom [+1]
- (Anonymous) : Growing my Own Mother Question [+1]
- (Anonymous) : buying a scobe [+2]
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=92.1)
roadkillonrt3 : (no subject) [+3] - (Anonymous) : scoby not needed [+0]
- (Anonymous) : Kombucha Brewing Videos [+0]
- (Anonymous) : Brewing in the dark? [+0]
- (Anonymous) : Baby Scoby [+1]
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/user_ontd.gif?v=92.1)
rubyspirit : (no subject) [+0] - (Anonymous) : first scoby [+0]
- (Anonymous) : Plastic or Glass [+1]
Comments
Thanks for the info. Actually I could use a scoby, how could I get one send to me,thanks a million
Erika
i never knew you could get your own scoby from gts. i would have started brewing it 4 years ago!
Peace,
D
~Jen
PS I've really been enjoying your blog. I've almost got my hubby talked into buying a 1/2 cow from the place you recommended AND he let me spray the weeds with vinegar tonight (he wants to prove me wrong, LOL!) I can't remember how long it's supposed to take but I know it'll work.
I love kombucha for when I get a sugar craving. I don't know why, but it almost always seems to quench it.
Thanks bunches.
Thanks, all!
;)
Making one's super easy, though, if you can find the GT's, which is in most natural or health food stores. ;)
http://www.teachat.com/viewtopic.ph
info on the film
i need an opinion! i dont know if i should leave it and see what happens or redo everything and just buy a gallon of bottled water. also, is it okay to use turbinado sugar?
thank you for any help/advice you can give me!
However, I'd recommend you google Dom's kombucha site and look for more info on kombucha safety. That film sounds weird! but is a tea issue, not a kombucha issue, it seems. I'm sorry I can't offer more help; you need a real kombucha expert, lol!
There are several webpages detailing folks who used less white sugars, so check it out and give it a go! :)
I freakin love kambucha!~ I have searched the web for almost a year befoe I began brewing and the best info I have found (in terms of most practical and easily teachable) has been from this guy Dave at GetKombucha (http://www.getkombucha.com/) he also has free kambucha videos here (http://www.youtube.com/getkombucha).
hope this helps and happy home brewin!! I am saving a ton of money and it tastes better too :)
LOVE it! Love the drink, my skin loves it as a facial toner, my hair loves it as a rinse.
BTW, you do not have to keep the brew in the dark. Light, sunlight, even, works as well.
I cover mine with a doubled over, and rubber banded on, muslin sort of cloth. Love the natural look.
Healing Blessings!
Ann
http://www.SoupMagic.com
It took three weeks to grow my first scoby, but it was in full light, not covered, and in the winter. It formed much more quickly, in just a few days, the next time - covered, in a warmer house.
Thanks.