Ok ... Get on with it - How do you make it?!

Ok, enough lecturing, and on with the "recipe"

To brew a gallon of kombucha the way that I do it (that isn't set in stone) you will need:

• Your SCOBY
• Some starter kombucha, in which you should have your SCOBY stored, plus any extra kombucha you might have saved
• One gallon or more of non-municipal water. All municipal water supplies in the US are chlorinated. Chlorine kills bacteria. We do not want to chance that enough chlorine to kill your culture could possibly be left in your water after you've boiled it. Also, MANY municipal water supplies in the US are fluoridated. Fluoride kills bacteria and, from what I've been reading, human cells... Google fluoride and health and you'll see why you wouldn't want to be even drinking fluoridated water, let alone putting it into your kombucha!
• 6 tea bags (or the equivalent in family sized tea bags or loose tea) - any combination of black and green teas. Some claim that the tannins in the black tea are essential to a proper kombucha culture, so I have been using 1 or 2 black and the rest green teas in regular sized tea bags. Again, I get organically grown tea, as that is free of any pesticide residues that might manage to get packaged on non-organically grown tea. An important note here: If you are just beginning to make kombucha, it is highly recommended that you not experiment with flavored teas or herbal teas. Some herbs and some flavorings are naturally anti-bacterial - this can kill your kombucha culture. If you want to experiment with flavored or herbal teas, my recommendation (and that of many of the other websites out there about kombucha) is to ferment only black, green or white real tea, and add the flavored or herbal teas during the bottling process. If you do experiment during fermentation you will probably want to be certain that you have at least one "back up" SCOBY so you won't have to start all over again without one
• One cup of white cane sugar - organic or just store brand works fine. This feeds the yeast in the culture. Like the alternatives to real tea above, you will want to stick with white cane sugar at least during your own kombucha brewing learning curve, as some other natural sweeteners do not have enough sucrose for fermentation, or, like honey, may contain natural anti-bacterial agents and wind up killing your SCOBY. Again, when experimenting with other natural sweeteners, be sure to have a back up SCOBY just in case
• A one gallon or larger jar (mine are 5 litres, which gives me room for error)
• A 4 cup Pyrex measuring cup or 2 quart heat resistant bowl (Pyrex has always been my choice of heat resistant glass items, and I love the 4 cup pyrex measuring cup) - depending on the method you choose when preparing your tea for fermentation, you may not need either of these items.
• A stainless steel teapot or stainless steel stock pot - stainless steel is the preferred material in which to boil water and/or brew tea as it does not leech as readily as other metals - and you do not want metals or non-stick coating materials leeching into your tea, both for your health and the health of your kombucha culture.
• Cheesecloth or other breathable woven material with a tight enough weave to keep out fruit flies and the like, cut large enough to cover the mouth of your jar with a couple of inches hanging over the edge. NOTE: If you decide to use cheesecloth, make sure that you use multiple layers. The cheesecloth that I use is already two layers - I cut enough off to triple the double layers - I have so far found this to be enough to keep out the bugs, although some people tell you never to use cheesecloth. If you are unsure or have had a fruit fly or other pest problem recently, then a piece of muslin or linen or similar tightly woven but breathable cotton type material may be a better choice for you
• A rubberband that will fit snugly around the mouth of the jar with the covering on it
• A quiet, relatively warm place out of direct sunlight, in which to put your gallon jar so the kombucha will ferment
• About one week if your jar can stay at about 75-80 degrees. Shorter if it is consistently warmer, and longer if it is consistently cooler. Some people with homes that get to under 70 degrees, particularly in the winter time, have reported over two weeks (even up to three weeks) for the fermentation process to complete

I will describe how to make kombucha without concerning ourselves with the caffeine content, and I will describe a method to make a much lower caffeine kombucha using regular tea (without allowing it to go to vinegar). I will also give you two options for cooling your sweetened tea - one that I like to call the "Wait for it," long cool-down option, and the other is a quick cool-down option (this would be the option where you'd want that Pyrex measuring cup or bowl).

In all of the options, the differences occur early in the process - during the tea steeping portion - so once we get to the point where our formerly hot tea is at room temperature, the instructions are the same.

Preparation for any of the brewing processes:

• Make sure that your SCOBY is at room temperature. If you've refrigerated it, take it out of the fridge and leave it out for a couple of hours so that it is at room temperature before you must add it to your kombucha tea mix.
• Do the same with any kombucha starter tea you will be using.
• Be sure all of your utensils and containers are very clean. I generally wash my stuff in the dishwasher and then rinse extremely well - and in extremely hot water - right before starting the process. While you don't have to "sterilize" everything, it is pretty important for all of the items that come in contact with your SCOBY and/or the liquids to be clean and sanitary.

OPTION ONE: The full-caffeine"wait for it," long cool down method

Note: This method will have a long period of time (hours) between start and finish, although there isn't really any extra work involved, and there is no mitigation of the caffeine content.

1. Using a stainless steel stock pot, boil your gallon of non-municipal water.
2. Once the water has begun boiling, add your one cup of white cane sugar, stir until the sugar is completely dissolved, and turn off the heat.
3. Place your 6 teabags or equivalent in family bags, or loose tea in a tea ball, into the sweetened boiled water immediately after turning off the heat.
4. Let the tea steep for up to 10 minutes.
5. Remove the tea bags and allow the tea to cool to room temperature.
6. Once the tea is at room temperature, skip down to the steps labelled "Is it time for the SCOBY now?"

OPTION TWO: The reduced caffeine option with long cool down

Note: This option will necessitate heating more than one gallon of water and will be easiest if you use both your stainless steel stock pot AND a tea pot plus the Pyrex measuring cup or bowl.

1. Heat one gallon of water in the stainless steel stock pot.
2. While that is heating, boil at least one quart of water in a stainless steel teapot. Try to time this so that the teapot boils at nearly the same time as or just after the water in the stock pot.
3. Once the water in the stock pot is boiling, add your one cup of white cane sugar, stir until the sugar is completely dissolved, and turn off the heat.
4. Place your teabags or loose tea filled tea ball into the Pyrex measuring cup or bowl.
5. Once the water in the teapot has come to a boil, pour up to a quart of the boiling water into the Pyrex measuring cup or bowl and steep the tea in that container for 30 to 60 seconds. Just count it out, because looking at the clock will probably mean it will steep too long. At no more than 60 seconds, remove the tea bags or tea ball from the measuring cup or bowl, place the tea bags/tea ball into your boiled sugar water, and throw out the tea water from the Pyrex container. The reason for this: According to several sources, the vast majority of caffeine in tea is released during the first 30 to 60 seconds that tea is immersed in boiling water. When we throw out the tea water from the Pyrex container, we will discard most of the caffeine that tea would release.
6. Let the tea steep for at least 10 minutes. When I am using the "Wait for it" option, I will simply leave the tea bags to steep until the tea is at room temperature. It's just my opinion, but I feel that a lot of the flavor can be lost when you "pre-steep" to remove the caffeine, and I want to get all the possible flavor out of the tea before continuing on to the next phase of brewing kombucha.
7. Once the tea is at room temperature you may remove the tea bags/ball if they are still in the tea and skip down to the steps labelled "Is it time for the SCOBY now?" 

SHORTER COOL DOWN METHOD for either full caffeine or reduced caffeine options

1. Boil about 2 quarts of water in either your stainless steel stock pot or teapot (teapot is easier if it will hold enough water)
2. If you are using the full caffeine option, measure your 1 cup of sugar into into the 4 cup (1quart) Pyrex measuring cup or into your 2 quart bowl.  If you are using the reduced caffeine option, skip this step.
3. Place the tea bags/tea ball into the 4 cup (1 quart) Pyrex measuring cup or 2 quart bowl.
4. Once the water boils, pour approximately 1 quart of water over your tea into your container.
5. If you are using the reduced caffeine option, steep the tea for 30 to 60 seconds (count - don't use the clock - timing is important here, but just so you don't steep too long), remove the tea bags/tea ball and set aside somewhere clean. Then discard this tea water. Immediately place the tea bags/tea ball back into the Pyrex measuring cup or bowl and pour another quart or so of still close to boiling water over the tea bags. Add one cup of sugar. If you are using the full caffeine option, skip this step.
6. For both methods: Stir the water gently until the sugar has completely dissolved and steep for no less than 10 minutes (longer if you are using the reduced caffeine option).
7. Once you feel that the tea has steeped for long enough to be extra strong (I generally will leave it to steep for about 30 minutes, especially if using the reduced caffeine option), skip down to the steps labelled "Is it time for the SCOBY now?"

Is it time for the SCOBY NOW?

Almost!

The next steps are almost identical, no matter what went before. I'll note any differences that different options may require.

1. Get your one gallon or larger glass jar, and make certain it is sanitized. Place it in a stable location where you will do no damage with any splashed water or tea, and at a level that you will be able to pour liquid into it.
2. If using the Shorter Cool Down Method, and if your 1 quart container of strong sweetened tea is still very warm (i.e., not at room temperature), put about 3 quarts of cool but not cold water into the jar. If using the "Wait for it" long cool down method, skip this step.
3. Pour all of your sweetened tea into the gallon jar. If using the Shorter Cool Down Method, you will want to ensure that the tea and water are mixed so the resultant cooled tea is uniform in temperature and that it is approximately room temperature.
4. NOW it's time for the SCOBY!  With exceptionally clean hands, pick up the SCOBY and place it into the jar of tea. It may sink or it may float - it doesn't really matter, as long as it is in there.
5. Carefully add a cup or more of starter kombucha, from which your SCOBY should have just come. If you don't have enough starter kombucha, you may use bottled room temperature kombucha either from a previous batch of your own or from a bottle of commercially sold, raw, organic, plain kombucha (like G.T.'s Original Raw Kombucha) to make up the difference. Some kombucha brewers advocate using apple cider vinegar if you do not have starter kombucha, but I've never done that, so I'm not sure how much of it you would add.
6. Put your clean fabric cover over the mouth of the jar and fasten it on with a rubber band.
7. Carefully place the covered jar in the warm place you have prepared for the fermentation process, and wait.
8. Taste test your kombucha using a straw: if it has been consistently above 80 degrees where you are fermenting, test after 5 days; test at 7 days if it has been consistently less than 80 degrees, particularly if it has been between 75 and 80 degrees. Any cooler and you should probably test at 7 days just to see how far along it is, then use your own judgment on testing intervals after that. While people's tastes vary, for most people, tart but not vinegary is going to be about what they want. I like mine tart with a hint of sweetness to it, but I find that too sweet is not refreshing.

Once your kombucha tastes just the way you like it, it is time to bottle. Bottling and flavoring your kombucha will be another post!  In that next post, I will try to include any other information and tips I can think of as well as links to some of the resources I have used or at least looked at.

I hope these steps haven't been too confusing. Feel free to ask questions if you have any. If I don't know the answers I will try to find them for you.

Till next time - enjoy!

More Kombucha

More about kombucha...

A little more about the SCOBY, and how to make your own. The SCOBY is a gelatinous mass of yeast and bacteria that forms when conditions are right. While many people obtain their first SCOBY from online/mail order options or from friends who may be brewing their own kombucha, it is quite possible to grow your own - and not difficult. It's just a little time-consuming.

You can read the article that I read here (this is a great website with lots of info on natural foods in general, by the way). But I will also share my experience in growing my own SCOBY.

First, I bought some G.T.'s Original Raw Organic Kombucha at Hannaford. You should be able to get by with one bottle, but I was drinking it then, and had more on hand.

Next, I made sweet tea as described in the article at the website, but I made 2 cups of tea, sweetened with 2 tablespoons of white cane sugar.

I had an empty G.T.'s bottle, so once both the newly made tea and the G.T.'s Original Kombucha were at room temperature, I combined them in my 4 cup Pyrex measuring cup and then poured the combined liquid into each of two empty G.T.'s bottles about 3/4 of the way full - so that there was the maximum amount of surface space I could get.

Then I covered each with a square of paper towel and fastened them with rubberbands. Now, it would have been better - possibly even faster - if I had put the liquid into a container with a larger diameter, but I worked with what I had at the time, having read that the starter SCOBY needed to be thick, but the diameter didn't really matter that much.

Finally, I put them into the cupboard above my pilot lit gas wall oven, where it was much warmer than anywhere else, and I waited.

A new SCOBY forming rather resembles an oil slick when it starts. There is nothing to indicate that it is anything more than a slime coating on the top of the liquid... you just have to wait. Time is the last ingredient in this recipe.

At first, I was convinced that I had a moldy SCOBY forming on one of the containers, because it looked like there was something dark forming on part of my slime. But everything I read stated that mold looks like dry greenish black mold and this didn't look like that. Since I had two of them going, I figured I would just wait and see, and if it turned out to be mold, I had the other one.  It took well over a week for one of the SCOBYs to resemble the SCOBYs that I'd seen in pictures, but once it did, it was just a matter of waiting for it to thicken up. What had appeared to be mold turned out to be a brown clump of yeast waste - yucky looking but perfectly normal in this kind of culture. After a bit over two weeks, it seemed almost done - but I waited a little longer for it to thicken a little more. When that first one got to be over 1/4 inch thick, I gathered the stuff I had to try to make a batch of kombucha with my new SCOBY.  I left the second one, which seemed much thinner, in the jar and ignored it for another few days.

That one came out even thicker, in the end.  I can't really remember how I managed to get three, as I really do only remember starting two - but I did get three by the time all was said and done. I now have three healthy SCOBYS that I rotate by the length of time since they've been used - the older ones being first used. I keep them in ceramic bowls, covered with the tea they were cultured in, with the bowl covered with plastic and stored in the fridge.  The refrigeration slows the activity of the SCOBY so they will last. They can be kept in the fridge for a couple of weeks, but much longer than that and you risk them starting to die off.

Next up, how I made kombucha with those thick, gelatinous masses!

No kitties, Kombucha!

So ... about kombucha. Kombucha is fermented tea. It's an ancient Asian drink and is available at many health food stores and even some grocery stores like Hannaford. There are many supposed health benefits, but the main ones are lots of pro-biotics (good for the digestive system) and lots of B vitamins (likely due to the yeast).

If you've ever had hard cider, I think that the taste is similar, but less sweet. There are "hard iced teas" on the market, but I don't think that the flavor is very like those. And, yes, as a fermented beverage that starts out with sugar, it does contain a very small amount of alchohol - but a lot of that is dependent upon how long you ferment it.

I decided to embark on making my own due to the fact that the cost of the stuff I like is about $3.70 per 16 ounce bottle. I looked into it online and found a number of different sites and blog entries devoted to the brewing of kombucha. It sounded simple enough - tea, water, sugar and time ... except that I would need a starter culture, sometimes called a Kombucha mushroom, but more technically and accurately referred to as a "SCOBY". S.C.O.B.Y stands for "Symbiotic Culture Of Bacteria and Yeast" and is exactly that. You can buy a SCOBY online for anywhere from $15-$30, but I was leery of all these little individual sites and researched if there was a way to make my own.

Sure enough, there is! It's a little time-consuming, but it's relatively inexpensive, and the three that I grew have made me several batches of kombucha and ensure that I can rotate them so they can rest a little between batches... and I always have one backup. The cool thing is that they grow their own replacements - a "baby" that you can separate from the "mother" when the baby is thick enough.

Here is a list of the things you would need were you to decide to brew your own kombucha:

• LOTS of black or black and green teas (there are some that believe some black tea is essential for a good kombucha - who am I to argue that?) - preferably organic and it's great if you can find affordable free-trade tea. I found organic black and green teas at Hannaford.
• White cane sugar. Can be organic if you prefer, but my understanding is that the sugar is almost completely consumed by the fermentation process, so most people aren't as picky about this. Other sweeteners may be iffy - honey, for example, has natural anti-bacterial properties and so might kill the bacterial part of your culture, ruining your kombucha. Probably best to stick with plain white cane sugar especially to start.
• SCOBY plus some starter tea - generally included if you purchase a SCOBY online.  If you grow your own, you will have the leftover tea from that starter. And you will always save some kombucha from each batch you brew to protect your stored SCOBY and use as starter tea for a new batch.
• At least one, prefereably two, 1 gallon glass jar(s). I purchased 5 litre canning jars online - they were pricey - or at least the shipping was high, but they fairly sturdy.  You might be able to find gallon or larger glass jars at a restaurant if you know anyone who might be willing to save them for you.  Or, if you purchase in bulk and can find glass jars that large, and don't mind eating a lot of pickles or whatever before you can use them ...
• Cheesecloth (I triple layer it for better protection from flies and such), a square or two of muslin or other breathable but fairly tight weave cloth large enough to hang a couple of inches over the mouth of your jar(s). Some people use a lint free kitchen towel.
• Rubberbands. Several. Large enough to go around the mouth of your jar and whatever material it is you cover it with. Just get a package of them so you have plenty of them when you get going - eventually they will stretch out and break, and you'll want to have more to replace broken ones.
• 1 -2 quart Pyrex or other heat resistant bowl or measuring cup.  I have both, but am now mostly using my 4 cup Pyrex measuring cup. The measuring cup can be used in both the preparation process and the bottling process, so it might be your best bet.
• Tea kettle or small stainless steel stock pot.
• Six to eight 15-16 oz bottles. If you already drink a commercially sold kombucha you can sometimes use those bottles - especially if they have screw on caps. Or you can do what I did and buy bottles ... or what I really did was buy a case of Grolsch beer in the flip top bottles and drink or discard the beer for the bottles. It is actually cheaper to buy a case of Grolsch and pour the beer down the drain to get the bottles than it is to buy the bottles online and pay for shipping. Shipping glass is EXPENSIVE.
• A funnel that will fit into the necks of your bottles. Still tricky, but the funnel truly helps in bottling.
• Plastic straws. I have a little dispenser similar to the old fashioned straw dispensers one used to find in the old soda shops - this keeps them clean and protected in storage. You will want to use the straws to help sample your kombucha during the fermenting process to see if it's at the point you would want to bottle it yet - i.e., taste-testing.
• A quiet, warmish (70-85 degrees F) space big enough to hold at least one, if not both, of your gallon jars, and possibly 3 or more of your bottles. I use the top of my fridge right now, but I'm thinking I will need to rearrange the area over my wall oven - mine is an old oven with a pilot light, so there is always a little bit of heat rising from it. The warmer the area, the faster your fermentation will take place.

So ... there is a little investment in time and equipment/supplies if you really want to brew your own kombucha. While you can do it in smaller containers, that means more SCOBYs, so the gallon container is ideal. Two containers means you can start a new batch before the first one is finished. I haven't quite gotten that timing down yet, but I'm hoping to at some point have batches overlapping by 3-4 days so that I never run out. I have already saved a bunch of money by cutting my dependence on store-bought kombucha in half if not further, and I am hoping that I get a routine that will enable me to only purchase from the store when I need an infusion of new culture into my kombucha family.

I will write more about how I grew my own SCOBY and how I brew and bottle my kombucha in future blog posts... I hope you are interested and enjoying the read!