How to Kombucha
So I LOVE kombucha. I drink it almost every day, and when a friend offered me a SCOBY (Symbiotic Culture Of Bacteria and Yeast - yum!), which is what gives kombucha its bubbly magic, I happily took home a disgusting blob of gross to start brewing my own SCOBY poop tea.
Look, if you can boil water, you can make kombucha. Promise! Here’s what you need:
*Fun kombucha fact: the kombuchas that require your ID have been naturally carbonated thanks to anaerobic respiration, which produces alcohol (that’s why you have to be over 21 in the US to buy them). Otherwise, they are carbonated using the same devices as soda. Not that big of a deal except when you’re trying to brew kombucha and need the extra potency to get things going.
Okay, so here’s what you do:
Boil a gallon of water with a cup of sugar (don’t substitute stevia or honey or anything besides organic sugar, y’all; the SCOBY’s going to eat and poop out that sugar to benefit your gut health, and honey or other sweeteners will kill it)
Toss in 3-5 tea bags (not herbal, although you can convert your SCOBY to an herbal tea, it needs the caffeine to kickstart its growth) and let steep as long as you’d like (I often forget about it and let it steep overnight)
Pour the completely cooled sweet tea and the bottle of kombucha into the mason jar
Cover with a paper towel rubber-banded around the lid and pat yourself on the back. You did it!
The first batch can take awhile, sometimes up to a month. You’ll know it’s ready when you get a white film on the top of the mason jar - that’s the baby SCOBY protecting its environment! A new one grows with every new batch, hooray! Give them away or throw them in your garden - plants LOVE them.
You can drink the tea at any point. It’ll just get more sour as it sits, which some people (me) love.
If you love bubbles, you’ll want to do a second fermentation:
This batch is a blend of Sun Potion greens, pineapple, and lime.
Did you do it?? Did it work?? Let us know!