What is kombucha? In a nutshell, it is a fermented sweet tea. Its origins are not fully certain, but there are suggestions that it comes from Ancient China, around 220BC. Kombucha has been touted in many cultures for its health benefits; it is full of beneficial enzymes and gut-enhancing bacteria. Plain kombucha has a slightly sour and tangy taste to it, and flavoring leads to endless possibilities.
The most important part of brewing kombucha is a SCOBY. SCOBY is an acronym for "symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast." A SCOBY is, in fact, a living organism. It looks like a translucent pancake, it feels a bit like firm jello or thick fruit leather. The SCOBY grossed me out for a short while, but I got over that quickly enough and now will even eat bits of it.
I've read plenty of how-to's on brewing kombucha, and I've found too many instructions call for it to be an exact science- test the pH, use this or that water temperature, sterilize jars with vinegar only, keep it on a heating pad, etc. I'm sure there's clout to those methods, but I don't use any of them. I invoke my inner hippie and brew my kombucha with love (and the occasional measuring cup). Brewing kombucha has become an art form in my household, and in two years I've yet to have a ruined batch. The instructions that follow are very specific, but only for the sake of them being in written word. This is a good way to start, and once you are comfortable with the process, take some creative leaps and find what works best for you!
Equipment
-a 1-gallon glass jar with a plastic lid
-filtered water
-1 cup of sugar
-1 tablespoon black tea, 2 teaspoons green tea (or 3 black tea bags and 2 green tea bags, or all black tea, or all green tea ... oh, here I go, already off the beaten path)
-1-2 cups of plain kombucha (starter tea)
-1 SCOBY
-a thin dish towel or cloth napkin, and rubber band
Process
1. Make a sweet tea concentrate: pour some filtered water into a saucepan, add one cup of sugar, and bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar.
2. Turn off the heat and add tea of choice, steep for at least 10 minutes.
3. Fill the gallon jar about halfway with filtered water.
4. After the tea has steeped long enough, add it to the gallon jar, straining out the tea leaves in the process.
5. Add starter tea to the jar, then finish it off with more filtered water up to 2-3 inches below the top.
6. The tea should be at or close to room temperature at this point, so now it is safe to add the SCOBY. With clean hands, gently place it on top of the tea.
7. Cover the jar with fabric, keep it in place with a rubber band, so that the SCOBY can breathe, but nothing can get into the jar.
8. Set it out of the way and out of direct sunlight for at least five days to let the fermentation process take place. Periodically taste the kombucha every so often after that until it is the taste you desire. Some people like to let their kombucha ferment for a few weeks so that it becomes very tart and vinegary, while others will drink it just as it starts turning from sweet tea. There's no wrong or right in the equation, just find your preferred taste. However, be mindful that the less time it ferments, the more sugar is still there.
Congratulations, you have made kombucha! But now what?
Remove the SCOBY and transfer to another glass container, bathed in plain kombucha and stored at room temperature with a cloth covering it. Save another 1-2 cups of plain kombucha to use as starter tea for your next batch. After that, you have a few options:
1. Enjoy the kombucha as-is. Put it in any sort of container and store it at room temperature or in the refrigerator. Take note that whenever kombucha is stored at room temperature in an air-tight container it will continue to ferment and begin to carbonate. Be careful with the types of containers you use to store it; glass containers with square bottoms are very weak and you definitely want to avoid them. You can use juice bottles, single-serve glass jars, mason jars, grolsch bottles, etc. I prefer to use bottles that have a screw-top cap, rather than a flip-top, so that if the kombucha ends up being extra fizzy, I have some control over stopping the overflow as I am opening it. I mainly use and reuse old GT's kombucha bottles.
OR
2. Flavor the kombucha. This is fun and it's a great part of the creative process. A good rule of thumb is to use a half cup of flavoring per gallon of kombucha. I never measure anymore and usually end up using much more than a half cup, but always to delicious results, so play around with it. You can use fruit, herbs, spices, simple syrups, citrus, vegetables, juice, whatever sounds good to you. I like to use ginger in almost all of my kombucha, along with a fruit. My favorite flavors are raspberry ginger and orange ginger. I have the best luck with using coarsely chopped frozen fruit. There are books dedicated to making specific kombucha flavors, so do some googling to find inspiration!
Method: after you remove the scoby and starter tea, add whatever you are using to flavor into the remaining kombucha, and tightly cover the jar with a plastic lid. Let sit for at least two more days, and then bottle the flavored kombucha, filtering first if needed. Take note of what I mentioned above in regards to the types of bottles used. Also take note that the extra sugars from the fruits, etc, will aid in carbonation, so the pressure/gas in the bottles will increase more rapidly. As always, fermentation will halt once you move the bottles to the fridge.
A few miscellaneous but helpful and important notes:
-The SCOBY should always be at room temperature, always be in sweet tea or plain kombucha, and always be able to breathe. This is in regards to when you are fermenting and when the SCOBY is just being stored.
-If you don't have any starter tea, a bottle of GT's plain kombucha works just fine.
-Avoid using anti-bacterial soaps around the SCOBY and kombucha. The SCOBY is made of bacteria- the good kind- but anti-bacterial soap does not discriminate! Kombucha relies on bacteria to exist, so you don't want to kill it all off. Clean your kombucha jars well, but don't worry about a sterile environment, it would do more harm than good.
-If you are trying to get a nice and fizzy final product, I've had the best luck with bottling in 16oz bottles and leaving them at room temperature for a few days before drinking.
-A new baby SCOBY will form with each batch of kombucha, so after a while you can peel a layer off and brew more than one batch at a time, or share the SCOBY love!
Happy brewing!
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