How to make Kombucha Tea

How To Brew Kombucha
After reading abut all the amazing benefits of Kombucha Tea, I needed to add it to my daily routine!  At $6 a bottle from health food stores, I really didn't want to budget this in when I knew I could brew it from home!  It was actually a lot easier than I had expected.

This was my first time making a batch and it turned out AMAZING! Here is what I did:

Materials Needed:

• 1 cup of sugar
• 4 liters of water
• 4-6 teabags or teaspoons tied in cheesecloth (I personally used red rose for this batch)
• a mother SCOBY/mushroom

*this is a ratio of ingredients, you may need to adjust according to the vessel you are using to brew the tea*

• A piece of light cotton (freshly laundered) or a piece of paper towel
• 10 L stainless steel or glass pot (never aluminum)
• glass, wooden or stainless steel spoon

Brewing Your Kombucha Tea:

Put water into the pot, add sugar and bring to boil.  Boil for 3 minutes.  Add the tea and boil for a further 2-3 minutes (this is kill any mold spores that may be present in the teabags).  Turn off the stove and steep for another 10-15 minutes,  Remove the teabags.  Let the tea cool to the touch (I left my covered overnight) (35 to 45 degrees C).  Pour the steeped tea into you vessel.  Add the other SCOBY and the 12oz of mother tea into the brewed tea.

Use the cotton cloth or paper towel to cover the top of your vessel.  Place the covered brew into a

quiet area with good air ventilation, and a warm temperature (23-28 degrees C). 

 

The brewing process will take 7-10 days all depending on the preference of your tartness (I preferred it after 10 days)

 

***NOTES***

Once you have found a quiet place for your kombucha to brew, do not move it! this can disturb the fermentation process.

Never put your SCOBY into hot tea, it will kill the culture.

CARE should be taken when brewing to prevent contamination (this will ruin the entire batch).  Clean your hands with vinegar, clean utensils with vinegar, keep your brewing area clean.

 

Harvesting Your Tea and Culture

You're ready to harvest your new "baby" SCOBY and do a second fermentation of your beverage!  This part is EXCITING!
Remove the cotton from your vessel.  You will notice that you now have 2 cultures, the mother and a new one that has formed on top (this sort of resembles the cold fat when you refrigerate gravy).  These can be separated and the baby SCOBY can be stored in a jar or baggy with 12-24oz of the brewed tea and refridgerated.

 

You can stain your brewed tea through cheese cloth or a strainer to remove some of the accumulated culture.  Pour into a glass measuring cup and transfer into flip top bottles (like the ones I used below, I found mine at a local brewing company).  Make sure to leave enough starter tea for your new batch of kombucha (12-24 oz).  Then mother will continue to sprout babies while in the keg.