Kombucha

I have mentioned a few times that I started brewing my own kombucha and that I liked it. Some people I have mentioned this to have no idea what it is or why I do this. This purpose of this post is to explain this a bit.

Kombucha is one of the current big things in "real food" "vegan" or "raw" diets. It is a drink. Picture a combination of sweet tea, yogurt, and beer and you have kombucha. My blog crush started making her own. I had never heard of it so of course I had to try it! At first taste, I was underwhelmed, but kept drinking. Really it was the scientific aspect of the whole process that made me think, "I have to try that!"

Here is some more explaination about kombucha.

Here is the blog post that I base my procotol on.

So, why do I do koombucha? Well, I drink a lot of water. A LOT. It is just a habit I got into, and a good one, but sometimes, I am just so tired of water. I also drink a lot of tea: sweetened with splenda and lemon. And sometimes I am just so tired of tea. Other drinks are just too sweet for me, but kombucha is a perfect blend of sweet and tart and is very refreshing. I drink it in the afternoons at work with a Kerri bar. I do feel it gives me extra energy and if I don't drink it, I really crave it.

Where can you buy kombucha?

The only place I have found it in the area is at Whole Foods, which is an hour drive away. It is about $3 a bottle.

Well that is far and expensive. Now what? Make your own!

I bought a bottle of PLAIN, UNFLAVORED kombucha at whole foods. I poured that entire bottle into a glass bowl with some sweet tea. I let it sit for a few weeks. I checked it occasionally for a film on the surface of the liquid. When that film became 1/4 inch thick, it became my SCOOBY. This scooby is a blend of bacteria and yeast. I am a microbiologist, so I feel highly qualified to work with this lifeform.

Wait, wait. That isn't right. This kombucha is like $3 a bottle and I wouldn't have just used a whole bottle for this. Instead, I took the dredges of a mostly dranken bottle of kombucha. I filled it with sweet tea. Shook. Poured into glass bowl. Added more sweet tea. Covered with a towel and let it sit and develop film and that was my scooby.

At first my scooby was pretty thin, but now she is huge and BEAUTIFUL. With my new scooby, I now brew my own kombucha.

First thing I do is boil 3 qts of water. Then I remove it from the heat and add 1 family size black tea bag and 4 regular sized tea bags. This is different from our normal sweet tea recipe and other homemade kombucha recipes. I let the tea bags steep for about 5 minutes. Then I add 1 cup sugar, again, more than when we make regular sweet tea. I tried using less, but the results were not as good.



I then let this sit for like 2-3 hours or until completely cool. This sweet tea is then added to a glass container. I currently used a sun tea jar, but have also used a punch bowl. After addimg the sweet tea, I add about 2 cups unflavored kombucha. This increases the acidity which prevents growth of non-kombucha microorganisms.



Then add your scooby. Isn't she beautiful?





Cover with a towel and put in a quiet, dark place:



After seven days, taste for a slightly sweet, slightly sour tea. Carefully remove scooby, and then I pour off 2 cups of unflavored kombucha:



With the rest, I do what is called a secondary fermintation. I basically flavor the tea. In this case, I was adding pomegrante/cranberry juice. Add about 1/4 cup to the bottom of a glass bottle. I use old kombucha bottles or mason jars:



Then add kombucha and cover with a towel and put in a quiet dark place for 2 days:



After 2 days, remove and discard mini-scooby, cap and chill until ready to drink.

Repeat with a new batch of sweet tea, same old scooby, and washed glass container: