Monday, July 19, 2010

Kombucha Tea Recipe

Here's the recipe I follow for Kombucha Tea:

1. Bring 3 Quarts of distilled water to a boil.

2. Add 1 cup of sugar (I use organic raw sugar) and boil 5 minutes.

3. Turn off heat and add 4 tsp black or green tea in bags, loose or tea ball to steep for 10-15 minutes

4. Remove (strain) tea and let it cool to room temperature. Tea must be cool or it will kill the live culture.

5. Float your SCOBY; shiny side up. Don't sweat it if it sinks, it will work fine.

6. Add about 10-15 percent old batch tea on top of the SCOBY if you have it or buy a bottle of KT. I usually use 10-12 oz.

7. Let it sit for 6-10 days covered with a cloth or paper towel cover between 70-80 F degrees.

8. Don't mess with it! A thin film will form on top and grow into a new baby SCOBY. Hopefully, some carbonation will form and bubbles will rise underneath the SCOBY. I have pictures of this in older posts.

Once brewed to taste...

1. Wash hands and then rinse with vinegar. Carefully remove the SCOBYs and put them in a glass container. Don't use metal utensils. Pour off about 10 -20 oz for starter tea for the next batch or two of tea (you have two SCOBYs now).

2. I bottle my kombucha in mason jars now days. I often add ginger, but I will add only shredded ginger juice and not the actual pieces like I used too. You can also add a little bit of fresh squeezed blueberry  or other fruit juice to the individual bottles for extra flavor and fizz.

3. I usually let them sit a week or so for a second fermentation and then stash them in the fridge. Enjoy!

There are links to lot's of other recipes on the side bar as well, but this is as basic as you get.

19 comments:

Sandra Irena said...

Love your blog! I'm brewing kombucha for the first time. It is day 8 of the fermentation, already tasted it yesterday. I will probably add ginger and lemon juice to as well as some Acai juice to my bottles. Can't wait!!

Dot Connector said...

Thanks! One thing I forgot to mention is that the Kombucha stays a good long time in the fridge. If you leave it out, it will continue to ferment, but in the fridge it has serious staying power.

therese noel said...
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therese noel said...

hello & thank you for your generous guidance! i may be having some trouble. i put my brew in the closet about 11 days ago to brew. as of the past few days, there is no film on-top or bubbles and my scoby continues to sink. the only thing happening at the surface is what looks like a few (quarter-sized) spots of something moldy looking. is this bad? help!

Dot Connector said...

Mold is not good! The mother scoby does not float most the time. It often sit on the bottom as the new baby scoby grows across the top. It kind of seals off the tea and as it ferments, carbonation form bubbles under the new scoby.

Hate to say this, but you may have a dud. I got a scoby once in trade and the person delivered it in a plastic bag. May have even been left in their car in the heat. I waited two weeks for the brew and it was a no go.

If you have mold (fuzz, green, not scoby looking) trash it and start over if you can with a new scoby, but don't give up. Its worth another go.

Hope this helps

therese noel said...

oh, this is very sad. i have a dud! oh, well. i'll do my best to find another scoby and try again.

one question: i used rooibos because i try to avoid caffiene. is this okay?

therese noel said...
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therese noel said...

hello! i am trying again. one question: i realized the (giant) jar i am using has a diameter much larger than the scoby. i noticed that your scoby pretty much covers the top of your brews in photos. is it important that the scoby cover the entire top vs. be floating around over a wider jar? thanks so much for your help. i really hope to avoid mold this round.

Dot Connector said...

The mother scoby will float around. Sometimes it sits on top, sometimes it floats on its side or at the bottom, but it really doesn't matter what size the mother is. Once the brew begins to ferment, a baby will form at the top as a skin across the whole surface and jar size, shouldn't really have much impact. However, I have decided I get more fizz in a pickle jar with a narrow top than I do in my Anchor cookies type jar. Not sure why, but just my preference.

therese noel said...

awesome! thank you! my batch is finally brewing-- i see a really thick coat of white film at the top and a couple of bubbles. i'm not sure if there is a baby yet... should i go ahead and bottle it? you are awesome!

therese noel said...

...i think it's been over 10 days.

Dot Connector said...

The white film is the baby. You just grew a kombucha SCOBY. Use a wooden or plastic spoon and taste the kombucha and see how it tastes. if it is too sweet, let is sit some more, but if you wait too long it will get bitter.

If it's ready based on how you think it tastes, store your baby and mother SCOBY in 20 oz or so of kombucha in a glass container until you are ready to brew again. Now move to stage two, bottling, which I outline in other posts or just stick it in the fridge and then drink it.

Good luck!

Anonymous said...

Hi... thanks for the blog! Do you need to burp the kombucha after putting it in the mason jars? Seems like eight days of pressure building up during the second fermentation could be troublesome, no? Thanks!

Blu J said...

Odd question - where can you buy or find a scoby or make one?

Anonymous said...

This is Wendy. I am having trouble logging in on my phone, but wanted to respond. I have found scobys on craigslist. Sine folds like to trade, which i did once. Done sell for $5 or so. Once you have one, brew a batch, you'll then have two. There are folks who sell them online, too.

Good luck.

Blu J said...

Thank you.

Anonymous said...

Was there any reason that you stopped putting the solid pieces of ginger in your kombucha? Or just the fact that you don't like the sediment/don't go through the trouble to strain it out?

Anonymous said...

Was there any reason you stopped putting solid pieces of ginger in your kombucha?

Unknown said...

The nice thing about making your own kombucha is that you can flavor and spice it up just the way you like it. Even add some medicinal herbs that actually make it taste even sweeter. If you like it really bubbly you can create your own mini-keg. To make a gallon of Kombucha Tea. Simply boil water, add one cup of sugar, add 4-5 t-bags, add the Kombucha Culture (SCOBY or mother) and one cup of starter tea (previous brewed Kombucha Tea) Set aside in a quiet place and leave undisturbed for 7-14 days.

Source: Healthy Kombucha Extract