How to make healthy Kombucha Tea!

I have been making Kombu bu--which is what my kiddies used to call it when they were little for years and years--i have a personal relationship with my giant scoby and i absolutely adore her! ;)

This traditional fermented beverage came to us from Middle Asia/Russia and has been brewed for centuries. My grandma used to make a version of fizzy tea when i was a kid and also ginger beer. Kombucha has been known to help with detoxification of the body, it is an adaptogenic tonic, which means it helps the body as a whole to adapt to stress, creating a healthy internal bacteria balance i.e. probiotic and helps with various body imbalances, such as cancer and autism. You can do a search online to learn more about the various ways kombucha helps the body and all the wonderful nutrients and enzymes released in the brewing process.

There are two ways to start making kombucha—one is with a SCOBY (symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast)Mother which you can purchase online—I like kombucha.org for their cultures, but there are many outlets with reputable products, so check with friends or look for recommendations. You can also get a culture from someone you know but make sure that person has been making Kombucha for a long time and uses very clean kitchen practices. You can also bypass both processes by using commercially bottled Kombucha such as those purchased at Whole Foods. I have done it both ways, and both ways are easy…

First, I make 2 gallons of Kombucha at a time because my husband and to a lesser extent, my older daughter both use Kombucha daily—Kombucha is a cleansing nutrient dense beverage, and you should start SLOWLY to introduce it into your diet. I started with a single shot glass a day and worked my way up. The biggest reason for doing this is to give your internal bacterial flora a chance to adjust to the addition of new and possibly foreign bacterial strains…bacteria is our friend by the way!!!! Without bacteria, you wouldn’t be able to digest any cellulose based foods, such as plant matter….so, start slow Using a very small amount to start and checking in with your body will also help if you are one of the very few people who are sensitive to the kombucha scoby or have an allergy to it..—and NEVER drink Kombucha like water…it is a traditional medicine….The most I have ever heard recommended is 16 oz per day divided. At this time, I drink about that—or maybe a little less…I like to drink Kombucha before eating anything—and never after 7pm if you are caffeine sensitive. If you have trouble losing weight, this is a good time to drink your Kombucha, but if you have trouble keeping weight on, you can drink Kombucha AFTER eating and it helps with healthy weight gain.

So…three things are very important before you start making Kombucha…finding the perfect brewing container…getting good water…and making sure all the things you will use are very clean. Kombucha has a problem with chlorinated/fluorinated water…it also has a problem with commercially produced dishwashing soap. It also has a problem with metallic containers and utensils….aluminum is the worst. Kombucha also likes to have a container that is pretty wide at the top, so making it in a mason jar doesn’t make it happy.

First, I went to bed bath and beyond and got an Anchor Hocking 2 gallon glass storage jar…this jar is sturdy—came with a lid (which I keep but never use) made out of a metal with a plastic seal. This jar is perfect for making kombucha—you can make 1 or 2 gallons in it and it will create a perfect space on top for enough air, even though it has a big lip on top for the lid…you should also buy some 100% cotton linen napkins (I like organic, but they are hard to find) and use them exclusively for covering your container and fastening it with a rubber band. Don’t use a sun tea jar for brewing kombucha because the kombucha will try and detox the plastic in the valve area….glass glass glass all the way—for both brewing and storage.

I have a doulton ceramic crown under counter water filter, so I don’t have to worry about my water source. These are expensive, but for me I felt it was worth it…using a brita filter will work if you make SURE that you keep the cartridge fresh….you can use distilled water or spring water, but check the source and water stored for a long time in plastic is going to have some of that plastic in it….investing in the water is key to good healthy Kombucha…

Ok….Tea and Sugar….Kombucha really digs caffeine and sugar to make all the great nutritents it produces like lactic acid, b-vitaminis, glutamic acid etc….without these two simple compounds it cant do what it does efficiently—so, DON’T use decaffeinated tea, don’t use herbal tea—don’t use flavored tea (you can flavor afterwards, using the double fermentation method…which I will explain later)….Also, I have heard through the grapevine of Kombucha crafters, that Lipton regular tea has the least processing and no spraying when coming through customs…even organic products produced with no pesticides can be sprayed by the agricultural officers in customs and the organic companies cant do a thing about it….Lipton is a large company with a giant tea estate, so the customs officers trust the product to be free of vermin. so, I always use lipton orange pekoe tea which is a black tea and produces a very good flavored brew…I also hear that people get good results using green tea, but you have to make sure you watch the brewing on that or you get a bitter flavor—the nutrients are the same in each case, so black teas are easier to work with.

PLAIN sugar—that means, NO agave, no date sugar, no honey, no beet sugar. If you want to use organic sugar, trader joes sells it at a reasonable cost—but the end product is the same using white sugar and sometimes you get more fizz using the white….

Bottles…make sure you get glass bottles if you want fizzy Kombucha or if you want to flavor it after the initial brewing. I saved a whole bunch of synergy bottles and some great resealable Grolsch beer bottles…you can purchase glass bottles online—or you can save beer bottles like coronas and purchase a bottle capper….make sure your bottles are CLEAN and dry when you use them to bottle-=-Dr. Bronners Sal Suds is a great cleanser to use very diluted—I also swear by pureliquidgold triple strength grapefruit seed extract diluted 15 drops to 2 cups water to clean everything then I load it all in the dish washer with NO soap in it and run it on hot for a whole cycle with nothing else in the dishwasher—for both bottles and caps—you can also use the heated dry—this really sterilizes the bottles-then a final rinse with filtered water so there is absolutely no chlorine present--but you can do this on the day you harvest the Kombucha—you don’t need them when you do your setup.

FINALLY we get to the DIRECTIONS!!!

What you need—a large stockpot—perferably stainless steel or enamel—if you are making two gallons, you may need to use two pots—I use my farberware pots the big one and a large saucepan—make sure these are CLEAN and then rinse them with the water you are going to use to make the kombucha—you always need to have atleast 3 gallons of water available to make 2 gallons of kombucha…use the extra for a final rinse of your utensils and pots and pans—and your big jar too…

You will need 6 tea bags and 1 cup of sugar for every gallon of Bucha…bring your filtered water to a boil…when it boils, place the tea bags in the water (not the tags!!!!!) and turn off the heat==time this for 12 minutes…then carefully stir in the 1 cup sugar….(when I am making mine, I use 1-1/2 gallon in the big pot-8 teabags and 1-1/2 cups of sugar-in the smaller pot I have ½ gallon water, 4 bags and ½ cup sugar)….when the tea is ready—you want to put your big jar in the sink and carefully run warm then hot water on the outside of the jar—this makes the jar ready for the hot tea so it will not shatter….carefully pour all the tea into the jar and cover it with a cloth napkin until the temperature of the tea is about 85 degrees—I use a meat thermometer cleaned and put into the center of the jar to see if it’s the right temperature—too hot and you kill your scoby—cold is ok—but do not refrigerate it—as this will slow down the process…you can leave the tea overnight to cool but please make sure it is covered with a sealed cover so NO random bacteria can fall into the jar and start to grow.

Once your tea is ready—you can do three things….

Add 1 bottle of premade kombucha tea per gallon of kombucha you want to make….

Add a kombucha Scoby mother and 2 cups of kombucha tea from a previous brewing—when someone sends you a scoby usually they send it in some liquid—but you need to make sure the new tea mixture is acidic—and you do that using already fermented tea. Make sure you put it in the mixture gently—it may sink or it may float—no biggie—I use bamboo toast tongs I purchased from BBBeyond to touch my scobys…never use metal—and always use clean hands…this is a bacterial colony and it will pick up any bacteria you have on your hands…which could ruin your culture.

Add a kombucha Scoby and 2 tablespoons of distilled white vinegar per gallon of water if you don’t have any pre-brewed Kombucha around.

All three methods will work—the first will most likely take a bit longer, but you can count on the purity of the culture. Commercially prepared kombucha is generally checked for impurities on a regular basis and they are very careful about this.

So….cover your Kombucha jar with a CLEAN cloth napkin—secure it with a rubber band and place it in a warm corner of your kitchen—NOT in a dark cupboard, but not in direct sunlight…I brew right by my kitchen sink! Kombucha needs air because it is a combination of bacteria and yeast. Leaving it in a dark stuffy cupboard doesnt make it happy!!!!

Leave it alone—but you can look in the side after about 4 days and you should see a thin layer of milky looking matter that is the new scoby forming…

I usually leave my Kombucha for 7 days before testing it—I am obsessed, so I got ph testing strips and first I test to make sure that the brew is VERY acidic….then I dip a clean shot glass into the jar, or you could use a clean straw to taste it by dipping it in and then closing the end with your thumb to remove a small amount of liquid—it will be relatively sweet but not too sweet and it will be a bit fizzy, but not like the bottled kind…you can leave it a few more days if you really don’t like sweet kombucha, but if you leave it very long, the yeast takes over the bacteria and it will start to taste like vinegar…

When ready to bottle, carefully remove your scoby and pour in enough kombucha brew to cover the entire thing—I use a glass pyrex dish with a cover to temporarily store a scoby if I am going to make a new batch within 3-4 days…there is other care if you are going to store longer…put the covered dish in a warm dark place temporarily.

Using a clean funnel, pour your kombucha into the bottles but leave about an inch of space on the top. If you don’t like fizzy kombucha, you can just pour it into a pitcher and cover with plastic wrap (glass pitcher!!!) and pour from your fridge. I like it to fizz…so, cap your bottles and leave them in a dry dark place for 2-3 days—they will make an audible crack when you open the bottle and fizz up a bit less than gingerale…the flavor is delicious plain!!!

IF you want to flavor your Kombucha, know that some of the valuable nutrients will be lost to double fermentation—that’s why I only flavor a small amount of my brew…

Get organic fruit juice of your choice—some people say no pasteurization, but I think that leaves the juice cleanest without any possibility of cross bacterial contamination—and you aren’t trying to get nutrients out of the juice—just flavor…you can also buy organic ginger and peel small pieces of it—fill your bottles to 2 inches below full and then place 1 inch of juice and cap…if using ginger or other fruit (lemon works and lime, but please make sure organic and rind VERY clean) then fill to 1 inch below—leave bottles in a dark place for 2-4 days—open one at 2 days to see how fizzy—if VERY fizzy you can then put them all in the fridge…

Kombucha should always be stored in the fridge….

Now for the care and feeding of your Scoby—when you make a batch of Kombucha, you are going get a new baby every single time….even when you bottle kombucha you may find a tiny baby scoby on top of the bottle when you open it, which is a sign that your brew is biologically active and healthy!!! You can carefully separate the baby from the mother scoby and place it in a mason jar or other glass storage jar—you can fold it over if needed…using the Anchor Hocking jar, your scobys are gonna be BIG….cover your baby scoby with tea—cap tightly and put it into the fridge. Every week or so, or when you are making new tea—take a little bit of the brewed tea and sugar and cool it—then pour it into your stored scoby—its always a good idea to have a stored scoby so that you have a replacement if something goes off with your original…

Scobys can also be put into the blender with a good organic face cream and used on the skin as a mask—placed wet on any skin disorder it will clear it up…you can look up all the uses of the scoby online….

Remember to make new Kombucha about 3 days after you bottled your last batch—it keeps well, but drinking it fresher is always better…give some away to friends who are used to it…enjoy!!!

A word of caution—you MUST treat the scoby to a clean environment—it must always be covered…if at any time a batch tastes off to you—doesn’t fizz or you visibly see mold spots like on bread growing on your scoby throw it out entirely, including the brew—and start fresh…your health is more important than a batch of brew!!!

On my blog, A Moderate Life, where I talk about health and wellness, and living life in the middle of the road after recovering from Lymes Disease by using nutrition and alternative health methods. I have learned that moderation is key in everything, especially for a balanced, healthy life! So, join me at amoderatelife.blogspot.com