Kombucha Tea
Brew
- Bring almost 1 gallon of water to a boil. Simmer for a bit if it’s unfiltered water.
- Remove from heat and steep with teabags for 20 minutes.
- Remove teabags, add sugar, and let tea cool.
- Clean out your Kombucha container with very hot water and a touch of soap if you wish. Rinse well.
- When the tea is in the room temperature to 100 degree range, pour it into the container, add the SCOBY (keep top side up), and gently poor the old kombucha tea on top. The old tea will help keep the new batch from spoiling. If the tea is over 100 degrees it will kill your culture.
- Cover with a cloth (we use a bandana) and secure it with a rubber band.
- Let ferment for 1 - 2 weeks out of direct sunlight (it lives on our counter).
- Place the SCOBY in a clean bowl and pour some of the old tea over it. You can reuse the entire SCOBY or throw away one of the older lower levels. Each batch will form a new top layer.
- Pour tea into clean bottles (We reuse old GT Dave's Kombucha bottles again and again). Can add ginger juice and/or fruit juice now or later. Cap the bottles.
- You can put the bottles into the fridge or let them sit on the counter for a couple of days for a second fermentation to develop fizziness.
- Peel a layer off and fold it up into a small glass jar. Fill the jar with finished kombucha to fully cover the SCOBY. Our SCOBY came from a very nice woman on craigslist. A portion has since traveled to Albuquerque with Jon and to a friend here in Tucson.
Category: Drink Modified 1/4/13