Kombucha is hot on the health trends at the moment. It is a fermented drink which is prized for its health benefits. It is a sweetened tea which is fermented with a "SCOBY" (symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast). It is a nutrient-rich beverage which aids digestion and assists with gut health due to its probiotic nature. Apart from all of the goodness which it brings, it also tastes delicious! Don't be alarmed by the sugar in the recipe. The sugar is necessary for the fermentation process and gets consumed by the SCOBY, so you won't end up with a high-carb, sugary drink. The sugar is the food for the healthy bacteria and enzymes, acids and probiotics are the result of the fermentation. The sugar content is actually very low once the fermentation phase is complete.
What you need to make a 3 litre batch of kombucha:
1 SCOBY with approximately 1 cup of starter liquid
a large glass container
3 tea bags
3/4 cup white sugar
300ml pure fruit juice for flavouring (this is only required after the first fermentation period is complete)
Note: You must only brew kombucha in a pure glass container. You cannot use a plastic container and absolutely never use ceramic. The reason for this is that kombucha is acidic, and the lead will leach out of the ceramic and contaminate your brew.
Sterilise your glass jar by boiling water in it for a few minutes. The bottle must be exceptionally clean and free from any soapy residue or anything else. I like to swirl a little bit of white spirit vinegar around in the jar to be sure that it's absolutely clean before I start making a batch.
Then, put 3 tea bags of your choice into the glass container and fill it with boiling water. to make tea. Add 3/4 cup of white sugar. Leave a gap of about 5cm from the top. When choosing your tea bags, be sure to choose something that contains caffeine. The caffeine is part of the fermentation process. I make 3 batches at a time. Let the tea bags sit in the water for about an hour and then gently remove them with a clean spoon.
Let the tea cool completely before the next step.
Gently place the SCOBY together with the starter liquid into the cooled tea. Cover the jar with a breathable cloth and secure it with a rubber band. Make a note of the date and let the bottle sit in a warm spot in your kitchen. It takes about 10 to 15 days to brew your kombucha and have it ready for bottling. This is called the "First Fermentation". The time required varies depending on the season and how warm your kitchen is. The warmer it is, the quicker the fermentation process.
You can see the SCOBY floating on the top of the fermenting tea. Don't worry if yours sinks or hangs sideways. They usually will float to the top eventually. If you look carefully, you can see the baby SCOBY separating from the top SCOBY.
You need to start tasting it from day 10 to determine how ready it is. It should have a slightly vinegary taste when it is ready. To taste it, place a clean spoon into the liquid (below the SCOBY) and take out a spoonful of liquid. Don't put the dirty spoon back in the jar.
When it is ready, transfer the kombucha into clean, sterilised glass bottles. Keep the SCOBY separate, together with about 1 cup of liquid. You need this to start your next batch.
The kombucha on the left is made with black ceylon tea. The one on the right is green tea.
You can either drink the kombucha as it is, or you can add various fruit flavourants. I like to use apple, ginger and pomegranate juice (and combinations thereof). The fruit juice is added in the "Second Fermentation" process. The SCOBY must never come into contact with the fruit juice, the second ferment happens in the bottles.
I use approximately 100ml of fresh fruit juice (absolutely NO additives are allowed) per bottle. So, that's around 800ml of kombucha plus 100ml fruit juice. Don't overfill the bottles. Once you have added the fruit juice, pop the lids onto the bottles and let the kombucha do the second ferment on its own. You can start drinking it right away, but it will keep for about 2 weeks in the refrigerator. Open the bottle lids every day to let any excess gas escape, as the fermentation causes pressure to build up. The kombucha also develops a slight fizz after the second ferment. This is perfectly fine and healthy.
A few things to note
A healthy SCOBY can look quite different from one to the next. They can be cream to brown in colour and are sometimes quite ugly. Have a look at this website which shows some great examples of pictures of health SCOBYs.
It is very important that there is no mould on your SCOBY and no black spots (brown are fine). If this happens, then you will need to throw out the batch of kombucha and start again with a new SCOBY.
SCOBYs love to make babies. Almost every batch of kombucha that you make will produce a baby SCOBY. You can remove the baby and start another batch of kombucha with it, or you can leave it in the jar and it will help to ferment the next batch even more quickly.
Courtesy of The Big Book of Kombucha, here is a useful chart for batch and container size. (note: CB stands for continuous brew, which is another option). My 3 litre container is around the same size as the 1 gallon option below:
